Avatar: Between Two Doors

[veteranMortal]

Chapter 25: Presentations, Part 1

"Presenting the Lady Toph Beifong, Earthbending Sifu of the Avatar, Advisor to the Earth King, Hero of the coming of Sozin's Comet, and thrice champion of the Earth Rumble, with Lady Ty Lee, Warrior of Kyoshi, to petition Fire Lord Zuko, honoured be his name, Protector of the Fire Nation, Scourge of her Foes, Defender of the Fire Sages, Lord by the Sun's Grace." The Herald bellowed, slamming the butt of a halberd into the stone floor, the bronze ferrule ringing like a bell on the flagons.

Toph could feel the entire chamber, and hear it too - other than the herald, it was just the three of them, and she felt the herald bow as he moved to leave. The words echoed a little around the great hall. There was an odd sort of tension she wasn't used to with Zuko; it didn't feel like Toph was going to talk to her friend Zuko. She was a supplicant before the Fire Lord, here to ask him to intercede for her friend. It was an odd position, and one she was uncomfortable with.

She padded through the chamber in silence. She could feel Ty Lee trailing behind her on her left hand side as she went, the stone underfoot shiny, unyielding and cold, then rapidly warming as they came closer to Zuko's throne. Once it became so hot that it edged on uncomfortable, she stopped.

"Really, Zuzu?" She asked, "The full title? I'm honoured!"

Zuko let out a little burst of surprised laughter, sounding distant behind the gentle crackling of the fire around his throne. "Why Lady Beifong, of course the full title! I'm receiving an official visit from an ambassador of the Avatar and the Earth King, aren't I?"

"And most importantly - three time champion of the Earth Rumble," Toph replied, "My proudest achievement!"

The tension dissipated as they laughed, and Toph felt Ty Lee settling in at her back, supporting her silently.

"You're probably wondering why I wanted an official appointment." Toph said at last.

Zuko felt muted, up on the throne like he was. The wall of fire, the brickwork that lifted the throne so he could see over it, it all made her sense of Zuko indistinct, even fuzzy. It made it hard to get a read, as he straightened in his seat. "Not only for the novelty, then?"

"Well, it didn't hurt," Toph said, "But you know how boring I find all the endless rituals you have here."

"The Earth Kingdom isn't much better," Ty Lee interrupted, "When the Earth King came to visit Kyoshi Island with his bear last year, I had to learn an hour of different bows and phrases!"

"So," Toph said, "Not only the novelty. It needs to be official? An official meeting, written down so everyone knows it happens, you know?"

They had to do it right, so it wouldn't look like Zuko was being controlled by the Avatar, or like Azula's friends were trying to get her off, or any other sort of corruption, but instead would be "proper".

"Very well," Zuko replied after a moment, "What do you want an official meeting about? I assume this is about Azula, but what exactly is it that needs all that pageantry?"

"I don't think-" Toph began, then cut herself off. "We don't think it's right to put her on trial for all these things?"

Zuko sighed, long, heavy and hard. "Why not?"

It was barely a question. Toph could feel an exhaustion through him, like he was just going through a conversation he had already predicted.

"They aren't fair," Ty Lee said, "Most of these are just fighting the war! Dressing as a Kyoshi Warrior? Commanding a military unit that killed people? Tricking people by pretending to surrender?"

"She did everything she has been accused of," Zuko said, "You can't deny it."

"Well no, but-" Ty Lee began, a little uncertainly.

"There's no but, Ty Lee," Zuko said wearily. "She broke the laws of the Fire Nation in times of war. Some of the charges may be frivolous, but they are still within our laws. I can't just pretend she didn't break them."

"But she wasn't the only one," Toph said, "There's no way Sparks was the only Fire Nation commander to do things like this! It was a hundred year war, Zuzu! Everyone was doing all of these things!"

"And I'm trying to hold everyone to account, Toph." Zuko said, "And that starts with not letting people off for crimes because everyone was doing them."

"But why Azula first?" Ty Lee asked, "Surely there's people who've done worse, people who were adults when they did it?"

"Do you think I haven't been trying?" Zuko said bitterly, "The resistance to bringing any of these people to trial has been impossible. Half the judges in the Fire Nation think my father should still be ruling the country, and the other half think the Fire Nation was tragically led astray by bad leaders! If Azula is in the first few we are able to try, it means it doesn't look bad, we look like we're embracing responsibility. I don't want this, but…"

He trailed off, sounding defeated.

"But you helped her," Toph said bluntly, "You helped her kill the Avatar and take over Ba Sing Se, and your attack on the Kyoshi Warriors was way worse than hers! And Ty Lee and Mai helped her with a lot of the rest! How can you try Azula and not yourself and them? Doesn't that look irresponsible?"

Ty Lee didn't react at all, her heart beating steady in her chest, but Zuko's heart sped up a little, and the muscles in his forearms tensed as he clenched a fist. He wasn't angry, she didn't think, he was just unhappy.

"Yes," He said simply, "We were there, and we helped her, or we did worse, even! But we've all made amends, whilst Azula is still in her cell, spitting venom."

"What other options have you given her?" Toph asked hotly, "She's locked up! You can't expect her to be gracious, she's a prisoner!"

"Do you think it would make a difference?" Zuko snapped. "Do you think if Azula were free she would be trying to make amends with those she's hurt?"

"No," Toph grumbled reluctantly, "But she's still young, we're all still young. Why can't you just try adults who committed their crimes as adults? Generals and advisors, even your father! Why Azula?"

"Politics," Ty Lee said it like a dirty word, "Generals and advisors have allies."

Zuko sighed. "Yes. I've gotten the worst of my father's Generals - General Bujing, War Minister Qin and their ilk - in the preliminaries of their trials, but it has already cost me a great deal of political capital, and-"

"And Azula is easier?" Ty Lee's tone was sharp. "Azula's only got Toph and I to speak for her! There's no one in this new Fire Nation you're building who will stand up for a teenage girl being tried as an adult. On Kyoshi Island-"

Ty Lee's anger was like a physical thing; she stood like a dancer, light on her feet - it always made her a trial to spar with, and had been a nightmare when they were true enemies, but now Toph could feel the ways her pose was shifting, the clumsiness that anger and indignation brought. It was almost enough to make her miss the fire around Zuko's throne flaring up like someone had thrown a vial of blasting jelly on it.

"Alright, Ty Lee!" He almost shouted, then palpably reined himself in. "Yes. Is that what you want to hear? It is politically useful to try Azula now. She made herself the face of the fire nation! When people from the Earth Kingdom think of evil firebenders, they think of Azula. When people from here think of the people who commanded us to war, they think of Azula. They either want to make her the Fire Lord or string her up, and they either think I'm scared of her, or think I'm protecting her, and either opinion leads them to think the Fire Nation should stop trying people for what they did in the war."

Silence reigned for a moment, broken only by Zuko's breathing, hard and furious.

"So yes," He continued, exhausted, "It is political. We can't all run away to Kyoshi Island and pretend none of this is real, Ty Lee."

Ty Lee only reacted for a moment, and Toph felt the other girl palpably releasing her own tension, then shift more clearly behind her, head down.

It was as clear a signal as she was going to get.

"You can't try her," Toph said, "She's not fit for trial."

The words felt strange in her mouth - it was a solution to the problems Zuko raised, it took Azula out of view without killing her, it silenced anyone who thought he was scared of her, anyone who thought he was protecting her, and it would be good for Azula to be seen by professionals, but for all that, it tasted like betrayal.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked, "Not fit for trial?"

"She…" Toph took a breath, thought about it, "She's not well. In the mind. She sees things that aren't there, hears people say things they didn't say. She can't tell what's real, not for certain, so you can't put her on trial. It's not fair!"

"What?" Zuko asked with a real sting of surprise, "How do you know? Since when?"

"When your father named her Fire Lord," Toph replied, "Or at least, that was the first time she knew. She saw your mother, just before the Agni Kai with you. She doesn't know what's real, Zuko. She isn't mentally competent to understand the charges laid against her."

She had thought about this a lot since Azula told her - it had been the first time Azula had known it wasn't real, because it had been her mother, who was missing. But Azula didn't always know that a hallucination wasn't real - she had thought Toph had visited at times when she hadn't, and hadn't seemed to be surprised when she found out she hadn't, not really. She could've been hallucinating for some time before, and no one would've noticed, necessarily.

"Is that so?" Zuko's voice had a coil of suspicion through it. "Did she tell you that?"

"I found out," Toph said coolly, "She didn't want me to know. She would rather go to trial with everyone thinking she did it all on purpose than have people know that she isn't mentally competent, that some of what she did, she might not have even known she was doing it!"

"Toph," Zuko sounded disappointed, "Azula always lies. She made you think she was crazy, like she's made Ty Lee think she's sorry, or used to make me think she cares. She's letting you think she didn't want you to tell me because it makes it more convincing. I'm sorry, I should've paid more attention to what she was telling you."

"I can tell when she's lying!" Toph said indignantly. "I'm not a child, and she hasn't manipulated me! She wouldn't even want me to tell you this!"

"I'm sure you believe that," Zuko said, "But you don't know her like I do. I would be only too pleased to believe this is true, Toph - I don't want my baby sister to be dragged in front of a court, but it's too convenient, and I just don't believe it. Azula is as sane as we are."

He wasn't even lying, that's what brought Toph up short. Every word he said was true. He meant it all but-

"What would convince you?" She asked, bluntly, "What evidence would you need to have to believe Azula is seeing things?"

"Any reasonable evidence," Zuko said tightly, "That isn't just Azula's words dripped into the first sympathetic ear she could find."

This was a lie. Toph wondered, briefly, if he even knew it was a lie. He wanted to believe Azula wasn't in her right mind, wanted to believe there was good reason to avoid trying her, but he didn't. He didn't and he wouldn't.

"Does it matter?" Toph said quietly, after a long moment. "Does it matter if Azula is actually mentally incompetent? Does it matter if she's lying? If we believe her, she doesn't need to go to trial, doesn't need to be dragged out in front of a crowd to be sentenced by some judge who doesn't care about her. Isn't that worthy in itself?"

So what if it's corrupt, she wanted to shout. Who cares if Azula is lying? Why can't she just be saved from this because she's Zuko's sister?

"Toph," Zuko said softly, "I know you're friends with Azula, but we can't just let her get away with this. You know that. She's my sister and I love her, but that doesn't mean she didn't commit the crimes she committed, and there's no avoiding that."

It was true - he was telling the truth, she could feel that. She could also, however, feel that it was tired. 'She's my sister and I love her' was worn thin, and felt like obligation. He loved Azula because she was his sister, and you have to love family. No more or less than that.

Toph felt it like a stab wound. It was pointless, then. Setting up a meeting, telling Zuko things about Azula that she had learnt in confidence, all the time in the library with Ty Lee, and why? Zuko was never going to change his mind about this, because Azula was an obligation to him, no more or less.

"Oh." She said, "Right. I see. Well--"

She could feel her eyes prickling, getting wet with unshed tears, and she couldn't get the words out.

"We're sorry to have wasted your time," Ty Lee said smoothly, "But thank you for listening to us!"

"Right, thanks." Toph said, "I'm gonna go, uh, look up that Captain Tai Tsai, I think? Thanks anyway, Zuko."

Toph turned on her heel, pushing past Ty Lee and heading to the exit. She wiped at her eyes angrily as she stomped back towards her rooms.

veteranMortal: So! That went badly. Trying to establish the sorts of arguments Toph would make and how they would go. Hope it worked?

The Laurent: It very much was a case, and not the first and not the last, where Zuko-Toph communication kinda shuts down way too early because one or the other of them realize the other's not going to be convinced and so don't say… well, things they should probably say.

 

[The Laurent]

Chapter 26: Presentations, Part 2

Azula had an idea. It was a stupid idea, and she did not know how she was going to voice it, because it was one of those ideas that had nothing to do with the fact that within a few weeks she'd start meeting advocates and fighting for her life. Nothing in the subsequent meetings had made it any less clear that it was going to be a full show trial, a kangaroo-lion court roaring out her guilt for all the world to hear.

That was half the point. She was not stupid. He needed her to seem a madwoman, and even worse than that, a monster. He needed her to be dangerous, evil, untrustworthy and unstable.

He had to make an example, and she was a very good example to make.

All of this should have been filling her head, but whenever she thought about it she felt the fire and anger rise pointlessly.

So instead Azula found herself thinking about petty things like training routines she could do even in a small cell, or training routines Toph could do. Or her writing.

Of course, such trivial activities as writing a story was far beneath a Princess, but she had nothing better to do.

Her latest thought, though, was even pettier. It was about the writing, sort of, but more about where it was all going. And whether there was perhaps a way to… give it some grandeur beyond that of a bunch of paper in her room.

As the door rumbled open and she tried to focus on the feeling of the shaking she said, "You know Toph, I've be… ah, it is not Toph. Which means, who is it? Ty Lee? Mai finally visiting me again for the first time in a month or two? No, it is--"

"It's me, Azula," Zuko said, and he sounded tired. He sounded uncertain.

"Well, well, Zuzu," Azula purred, and she smirked. "What brings you here? Shouldn't I just tell you to talk with my lawyer, once I have one?"

"I… we're going to move towards that part of it, once we've formalized charges," Zuko said. "There are advocates who are willing to talk with you," he said, and… was his voice gentle? No, not quite, but it was not as hard as it could be. "And there's an advocate who talked to me. Toph tried to convince me to pardon you, or rather rule you… incapable of standing trial."

What.

Wait.

No.

No she couldn't have.

"Incapable?"

"Mentally incapable."

Azula realized that she'd been betrayed. All those secrets she'd shared, all those weaknesses.

"Why?"

"She says you've been seeing stuff, but… I think she just wants to help you, Azula," Zuko said, quietly. "But she does not understand… she doesn't." He trailed off, because of course she knew. Of course she knew that every day she existed, credible and an alternative to Zuko, was another day that his grip grew weaker. She had to imagine he was truly, truly desperate, and ruling her as a genuine madwoman, what good would that do? Who would believe it was true? Who wouldn't think that this was just a game, just a trick!

After all, Toph had proposed it to try to save her life.

Azula realized that for a moment, but right then it did not matter. Her blood burned hot, but she tried to rein in her temper. She still had a chance to save something from this.

Azula began laughing, "And she believed it?" She couldn't help it, the laugh came out high and cold. "It's good to know that I can still fool her, even when she likes to pretend that she can tell when I'm lying now. Of course I'm not seeing things. I'm terribly, terribly sane Zuzu, and did you think for a second--"

"No, I didn't," Zuko said, his voice dull and blunt. "Not even for a single second. You don't have an excuse. You've always been smart, in control. Except at the end of that fight… and I know it was a bad moment, not anything more than that. I don't want to keep this up, but I have to." Zuko was presenting a face of reluctance. "There are millions of lives that would be at stake if I failed. This prosecution is going to continue, and all of the things that are on the table are… on the table. They are possible. I.. I don't want to--"

"Don't lie to me, Zuzu. You'd prefer not to, but that's not quite the same thing," Azula said, with a sneer. "You're a greater fool than Toph."

"She stuck up with you when--"

"When what?" Azula asked, her voice growing harder and harder. "When what, Zuzu? I am not your concern, you have made it clear." It felt for a moment as if she was being seen and not seen. She hated it, this feeling. She wanted to yell at him, to shake him, to burn him until he understood that he could not have it both ways. He could not preach his saccharine nonsense and also treat her the way a Fire Lord should treat a rival.

"I don't want this to happen. I certainly don't want to sit in judgment of my sister, convicted of capital offenses."

Azula couldn't help it. Her laughter, her giggling, was almost helpless. She couldn't control it. "If you didn't want to murder people to make an example of them, you shouldn't have been the pretender to the seat of Fire Lord."

"Murder?"

"Even if I made any mistakes, and I did not, I was acting according to the wishes of the Fire Lord and trying to do what was best for the Fire Nation. And now you declare that treason? How many thousands, tens of thousands, have you convicted of this treason, this 'following orders'?" she asked, she demanded. She knew that it wasn't entirely… accurate. After all, she had helped coordinate plans, she was not some footsoldier. But where were the cell complexes for all the Generals? Where was the purge of the bureaucracy? Azula would not have settled for half-measures, for simply making an example of Zuko.

She hadn't wanted to do even that, but it would be far easier to make examples of Generals who defied her will. Scholars, politicians, bureaucrats, nobles.

Toph tried to make her look soft and broken to save her life, but Azula wanted to remind him that she wasn't that at all. "You're going to march me to my death--"

"You might not be sentenced by a death sentence, if you are found guilty--"

"And pretend it's not your choice, Zuzu. That you're just reluctantly doing what needs to be done. Pathetic."

He truly was pitiful, and she had to make him angry. She had to break him of any delusion that she was weak, vulnerable…

Crazy.

She wasn't.

She would hate nothing more than she'd hate his pity.

The thought that Toph pitied her enough to use these things to try to save her was already enough to make her feel like she wanted to burn down something.

"I don't know why I bothered, and I don't know why Toph was fooled by your act," Zuko said, quietly. "I'm sorry it came to this, but I've given you more than enough chances already. At a certain point--"

"At a certain point," she interrupted with a sneer. "You get tired of pretending." Pretending that he actually cared about her. Pretending he was anything other than a coward, but apparently not too much of one not to know that he had to seize his throne and hold it in fire and blood.

He was acting like a real Fire Lord in killing her, and she told him that, and loved the sounds of outrage and disgust that followed.

She'd done it. He stormed out, and he did not think she was crazy. He thought she'd fooled Toph, because it didn't seem as if he thought much of Toph either. Really, just because they were… friendly acquaintances? Or had been, before this betrayal?

It felt like victory, but a hard won victory at that.

It was the kind of victory that left her stewing and pacing. Really, she knew she was hurt by Toph's scheming, but at least she hadn't underestimated the genius bender.

Well played, what manipulation and disregard. Truly, truly impressive.

Azula resisted punching the wall, but it took a moment. She didn't want to burn anything either, it wouldn't help at this point.

Though at this point, there was also no point.

---

"Hey, writer," Toph said, though she sounded subdued. It had been over a full day since they'd last spoken, but Toph's tone of voice was almost normal.

Almost.

"You told him," Azula said, slowly, carefully. She didn't know whether Toph would say sorry. She seemed like perhaps she was the kind of person who would never apologize for their mistakes, which was a truly frustrating fact to deal with.

Someone who would simply do things that hurt others and bluster on through or pretend it didn't happen because that was easier.

Truly, truly annoying.

"Did you really believe--"

"Cut the mud," Toph said, sounding downcast. "I didn't lie."

"Oh, but I did, I--"

She trailed off, because she felt the press of the bracelet against her.

"Woulda come yesterday, but Captain Tai Tsai challenged me to a rematch," Toph said, her tone too breezy. It was the kind of empty pleasantries that clearly hid something else. But Azula could see through it. She wanted to move on.

She wanted to not have done this, not to have betrayed Azula's trust. Yet, no apologies were going to come. The thought came again, but now it was almost wry.

Of course she would not apologize for doing whatever it took to get what she wanted. And… what, that had been Azula's life?

How touching.

She leaned back from where she was sitting and said, "Is that so? Is that really why you're here today, and not yesterday? Zuko visited me, I know everything you did--"

"Yes, everything I did, Princess," Toph said with a snort. "Really threw myself out there. Doesn't matter." She sounded exhausted, and Azula realized that if she was arguing about Azula's "madness" then that'd involve finding a way to read a bunch of legal nonsense about how to tell if someone was "too crazy to try."

Azula had nothing but contempt for the whole idea. She'd made her choices herself, and even if some of them could have been executed better or had flaws, and it may be possible to admit this, if only in the privacy of her own head, they were her decisions.

"So I'd rather talk about something else, honestly? It was really lame," Toph said, and Azula felt the weight of the bracelet, and Toph squeezing her with it.

Azula could start a fight now. She'd done it before. She'd done it for less.

"I…"

She considered it. She considered truly if she was okay continuing to talk to someone who'd betrayed her, who'd left her exposed and vulnerable and at the mercy of her political enemy, her brother.

Someone she could not trust with the deepest corners of… anything, in case she found use of it. (But was that so unusual? When she'd thought she could do so with Toph in the first place.)

The bracelet squeezed again, and Azula made a decision.

It was okay, and perhaps it had to be.

This far, and no further.

This close, and no closer.

This deep, and no deeper.

It was comfort all the same, something she could act grateful towards, and perhaps even almost mean it.

Toph had, Azula must believe, tried her best and came up empty. Her schemes and games had not swayed her any further than this, but it was further than she'd swayed anyone else. She would not let herself be happy and content, but there was no point in burning the final bridge. Not yet. There was a while before it may be time to simply say all the things she wanted to say. Or not.

She would judge it, moment by moment.

"Well, well well," Azula said, heart burning but voice amused and cold, "Tell me what our good Tai Tsai did then?"

TL AN: Someone's dramatic. That's the end of Part 3: Madwoman.

VM AN: Azula responding to a perceived betrayal without burning the relationship down is real progress! Really excited to see how people respond to Part 4, honestly!

 

[The Laurent]

Part 4--Monster

"Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster."

"I think you're confused. All your life, you've used fear to control people, like your friends Mai and Ty Lee."

"What choice do I have?! Trust is for fools, fear is the only reliable way! … Even you fear me."

"No. I love you Azula, I do."
--Azula and her "Mother" in "Sozin's Comet Part 3: Into The Inferno."

 

[veteranMortal]

Chapter 27: Fire

"Fire is the element of power. The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will and the energy and drive to achieve what they want."

***​

The Fire Sages as an institution had grown only weaker and more dependent on the Fire Lord during the war. They had once had nearly a dozen full Sages on Crescent Island alone, and armies of acolytes, an organization ready and able to work with the Avatar, as the days of them being co-equal rulers of the Fire Nation with the Fire Lord were so ancient and storied that Zuko knew that attempting to even move in that direction would be a mistake.

But the Avatars did need people who were on their sides, power that didn't come from being beholden to any of the Four Nations. It was not anything he could say, because saying that he wanted the Avatar to be more powerful and independent was a controversial opinion. Instead, he'd spoken of restoring the traditions of the Fire Nation, and bringing back honor and spirituality.

There were those who didn't like that either, but the Spirit World existed, and there was cause to respect the wisdom of the Fire Sages.

Of course at the moment, there were three of them, and two acolytes and a small number of servants in the 'core' that was for the moment still housed in the palace while they rebuilt the temple on Crescent Island.

The purges had left the number of Sages and Monks total far too low, and yet even in a few years it had begun to be attractive for those whose belief in the Avatar was strong.

So Zuko had hope. Shyu, who had stood with the Avatar even when it was unpopular, had risked himself to do so, was now the Great Sage and it was his wisdom that Zuko sought out when he walked towards the Capital Temple one hot, muggy day.

It had been two days since the meeting with Toph, and he'd been thinking the whole time about what he was supposed to do.

That is what brought him to the huge, imposing doors of the temple, covered in abstract drawings of the cycle of Avatars and the elements. It had been newly created, and he remembered going to the ceremony and standing there while people who knew nothing about the Avatar made intelligent-sounding comments about the symbolism.

Now it was just any other door, the wall-torches guttering slightly with the coming of late afternoon. Evening was not that far off, and he had a banquet to prepare for as soon as he left here. It could not be a long meeting, but he stepped forward, dressed in robes that were too informal for a meeting with Earth Kingdom representatives. At the rate things were going there, he'd have to talk more to the Water Tribes, since they could provide no good news at all when it came to trade. And he hated that even now, about to visit the Fire Sages, that he had to care about trade and riches and wealth more than the honor and moral good of the Fire Nation. But he did, and he had been doing so for some time now.

He pushed the door open and strode in. Acolytes jumped to attention, though they'd known he was coming. Inside, the entrance hall was a large room covered in art and here and there spaces that one could kneel and pray on, pillows and blankets to rest, and everywhere braziers so that fire was always close and always present. "Greetings, I am here to see the honored Great Sage Shyu."

"This way, this way," a woman said, her voice high and nervous, face marked by pox. She must have been scarred by the outbreak towards the end of Azulon's reign. There were periodic outbreaks, made more common when you had so much interaction and so much stress. War was bad for the health of a nation, in a way that felt almost symbolic if it wasn't also so literal.

The room he was led to was not that different from any of the other rooms, a side room for meetings, and he settled down to wait. He knew it wouldn't be a long wait, and indeed it was less than a minute before the doors opened and Shyu stepped through. He'd stood with the Avatar, alone among the Fire Sages of that sacred island, and at the time Zuko had thought nothing of it either way.

Shyu's father had been executed for loyalty to the Avatar, and his grandfather had trained Avatar Roku in Firebending. Now the older man, somewhere in his late thirties, stepped in. He'd cultivated something of a beard, and his dark eyes were thoughtful as he said, "Greetings, Fire Lord."

"Zuko is fine in private," he said, though he was not sure if he'd be listened to. "I want advice. Wisdom."

"May I ask what you are torn on?"

Clearly Zuko couldn't hide that he was torn, or he wouldn't need to ask advice.

"Azula. She's going to be tried. She might not be given the death penalty, but she might if I keep on going forward with this. She is my sister, and yet all I've seen her do these last few years is manipulate, lie, and do worse and worse… and she's even tricked others into aiding her." Toph had been just another person fooled by Azula's lies, and he couldn't do anything to help her get over that fact because as far as he could tell she was stubbornly blind to the fact that Azula could clearly still lie to her.

If Azula was crazy, it was in the way everything was in the Fire Nation. He'd met people mentally unwell, he'd seen how terribly they were treated and what they went through. It was just another… another cruel thing Azula had done, to pretend to be like that just to try to get out of justice. To steal the problems of another to feather her nest, unwilling to be second best in anything, including suffering.

Yet, she was his sister. He did remember when she was at least not as cruel as she was now. He remembered seeing her standing, actually looking lonely, while all the other kids ignored her as much as they were able to ignore a Princess.

(Yet he also remembered how she'd show off scary Firebending moves and act rude and arrogant especially towards her fellow girls and then, what, be surprised when she didn't make many friends? Even there, she'd done it to herself. Yet… yet. Always it came back to a 'yet.' Some memories of a family member who probably didn't ever really exist.)

"Do you want wisdom?" Shyu asked, and he looked at Zuko carefully. "I am willing to tell a few stories of the past that might help you understand the situation a little better, but if you want a decision, or you want someone to… tell you you are right--"

"No. No, I'm genuinely asking for your perspective," Zuko said, looking across at the Great Sage. He was sitting at an even level with the man, and that meant a lot. Of course, it meant less than it might have once, but he toko a deep breath and said, "Anything can help."

"Have you heard the story of Fire Lord Satou?"

"No," Zuko said, thinking about it for a moment. He had heard a lot of stories of a lot of Fire Lords, but the family had always been selective about who got remembered, and what of them got remembered.

"He was a Fire Lord who ruled for about ten or twelve years, his mother and grandmother each having served in a long-ruling trend of Fire Lords growing more powerful… and the fact that they were women was regarded as a matter of pride for some, and distaste for others. But he was the oldest son, and though his sister was regarded as sweeter, kinder, and gentler by far from him, he was the one who became Fire Lord. He imprisoned his sister after rumors of her plotting against him. He had her strangled to death," Shyu said. "And how the next fifteen years go depends on your point of view."

"My point of view?"

"Under Azulon and Ozai, for various reasons, his reputation was redeemed as a modernizer who knew how to please the nobles and knew what power was and how to wield it, but under most traditions before it, and the accounts that have mass poverty of peasants and a half-dozen peasant revolts throughout the islands during his reign, view him as one of the worst and most tyrannical rulers in history. The murder of his sister for fictitious plots against him was regarded as a key point in his descent into tyranny. Fifteen years later, he was overthrown by her son, Fire Lord Taro, who she'd had in secret during her mother's reign, and who restored sanity--or weakness--in the Fire Nation, a peacekeeper and someone whose policies went even further in promoting equality and also trade relations outside of the Fire Nation." Shyu shook his head, "He selected his eldest daughter rather than his eldest son to be the next Fire Lord, Fire Lord Aoyami, and she too was regarded as one of the strongest Fire Lords in history, though she passed along the throne to her nephew."

"Why?" Zuko asked, frowning. "Was her son--"

"She had no natural son, nor a son out of wedlock. She had a woman that it is said, in the records, that she 'loved as a wife.' So she had no children. You can see, I suppose, why her reputation and the reputation of her father and grandmother have suffered, as she bucked tradition and in a way that… I cannot speak on it, but none of the Fire Lords of the Century of War were any greater respecters of such lifestyles, nor women in general it might be… delicately said." Shyu did not sound delicate. Zuko was reminded of how he'd felt when he realized the Fire Nation was wrong, that they'd lost their honor. There was this feeling of feverish wonder. This feeling that asked: what else wasn't true? What else he'd believed that was just an old and bitter lie?

He'd very quickly learned all sorts of things once he became Fire Lord, and getting rid of the laws criminalizing homosexuality was one of the least of them. One of the easiest decisions he could have possibly made.

There was that same energy, the excitement to realize how much of everything that'd been real was as solid as the air. And that perhaps the air was more reliable, could teach lessons that the Fire Nation had forgotten along with its honor.

"So you're saying I shouldn't do it," Zuko said, evenly. He understood the message of the story, at least, that those who murder their relatives were bound to be seen as usurpers and monsters, and either forgotten or even worse idolized by the kind of people who had believed in Ozai as a Fire Lord.

"Let me tell you another story before you decide, my Fire Lord. Some generations later, Fire Lord Lao was forced to imprison his brother, who was plotting his assassination, and eventually had him executed after a second assassination attempt nearly killed him, and as the nobles were divided between the two of them. Yet, Lao was seen as a peaceable inspiration, and Avatar Szeto, who became a key minister within the Fire Nation, was inspired by the legacy of his reforms. There are no historians, not even the most violent, that do not think his developments and willingness to reform the laws weren't admirable. There's almost none that question the necessity of him… making a decision not to protect his brother from punishment for his crimes." The Sage took a breath. "And there are other stories where the imprisonment or execution were legally justified but turned out to be a moral and political mistake, or were not fully legally justified and not done when it would have been better for the Fire Lord to have acted anyway, at least according to some.."

Zuko groaned in frustration, "So, what's your point?"

"My point is that history cannot give you an answer," the Great Sage said simply, closing his eyes. "Avatars have come and gone, each making their own decisions, and the same is true of the Fire Lords. They do what they can, they live in their moment, influenced by all that came before and influencing what came after. Talk to your friends, talk to the Avatar, he's your friend too. Think about your situation, and decide." Shyu shook his head, crumpling in a little bit. "It is all I can say, because the truth is that it could turn out well or ill or even be forgotten, no matter what you do. Is Azula a threat? Are there dangers worth risking her being a threat. Conversely, is she enough of a danger to have her tried in a way you know might kill her?"

The answer was that if he'd known, he wouldn't be here. He didn't want to, but she was guilty of crimes that probably did deserve death… if any crimes did, and Zuko was truly of two minds about that. He was not like Aang, but he wasn't entirely unlike Aang either.

"I don't know," Zuko said, groaning. "It's not easy."

"No, it is not. It is the duty of the Avatar and all people to make these decisions, to realize that they are not easy but find a way to do it anyway."

Zuko considered it, and knew what he had to do next.

TL AN: A lot of things were lost in a century of war, and one of them was a sense of history that did not exist merely as a mirror to hold up to represent the glories of the Fire Nation, supposedly a font of equality and yet also one that increasingly trended towards repression while ranting about the uncivilized barbarism of the Earth Kingdom.

VM AN: The most annoying advice is always advice that boils down to "I can't make this decision for you" even though it is also, like, the right advice a lot of the time. At least Zuko got to hear about a cool lesbian ancestor he has. That's always neat.

 

[The Laurent]

Chapter 28: Breath/Voice

Ty Lee did not, as a rule, try to hate things or people. The truth was, everyone had their aura, and even people with really, really bad auras had somebody who loved 'em. It was just a fact. Even Ozai, even that one creep who apparently almost destroyed the world up in the North Pole, even they had people who cared. She knew because Azula had complained that she'd been forced to go to his funeral and pretend to be one of them, but there was a little cousin, some ten year old, who was bawling his eyes out and making a scene because to him, Admiral Zhao was just a man who showed up sometimes and gave him sweets… or something like that.

Nor was it fair or nice to hate food just because she didn't like the taste! It wasn't the food's fault, and plenty of people liked things she didn't like.

So people and food both had those who loved them, and so did everything.

Despite that, Ty Lee might--if she was forced to admit it--hate politics just an eensy-teensy bit.

Which is why she was happy to go with Toph for some training. It didn't go well at first. If they started twenty paces from each other, Toph basically won every time. If they started closer, Ty Lee could get close enough to start blocking parts of her body… but that seemed pretty mean towards someone who relied on Bending to even see.

Toph started insisting on Ty Lee closing some of her points before she fought, and that was a very evenly matched fight, when Toph had to use one arm to bend using moves designed for two arms, or had to limp around and therefore had to stay in one spot and build up her defenses like a 'regular' earthbender. Ty Lee didn't like doing it, but it certainly helped turn the fights into a good workout, and over the few hours she'd watched Toph begin to figure out ways to do particular Bending moves with one hand, or without being able to set her stance as solidly as she was supposed to. She'd even seen Toph use moves that seemed… familiar? Faster, more forceful, less like Earthbending.

But Toph didn't seem to notice it, and she didn't repeat them. Which was weird in its own way.

At the end of long hours of practice, though, she had not expected the question. She'd felt that there was a question, that Toph was putting off. Now it burst out all at once, "Ty Lee, what are we gonna do?"

"Do? About what?" Ty Lee asked, but she knew what she meant.

"About Azula!"

Ty Lee blinked, and considered Toph's aura. "We can't really do anything at the moment, Toph, but don't worry. If she's sentenced we can convince Zuko to let us help rehabilitate her, once he's no longer worried about boring--" stupid, "Politics. He's not going to kill her." She knew that. He was a good person, he wouldn't do that. "Once she's been convicted, we'll be able to visit her, and then it'll all work out." She smiled sunnily.

Toph didn't react, but her aura seemed to darken for a moment before she said, dully, "Right." She nodded, and they got back to sparring, but from that moment on it was as if Toph was somewhere else, whenever she tried to talk. Both then, and for days after.

Toph had made a decision, and Ty Lee hated just how nervous she felt about that. As if she was in front of Azula again, being dismissed as useless. That was the feeling, the feeling of being written off as… as, she wasn't sure.

Perhaps she had been away from Kyoshi Island long enough now.

---

"The important thing is, Fire Lord, that we need to make sure to hit on the key points of their attack. I haven't been fully briefed, but consider it! Now is the chance, he's given us all a platform. He's made a foolish mistake," Advocate Tadashi Kenji - the very first to offer to represent her, he had told her when he came to her cell - declared, his voice full of passion even as it was empty of any kind of intelligence. Truly, men such as he were so pathetic. She was a loyalist to the Fire Nation and even she thought him dull. He droned on and on, but with such enthusiasm and vigor, about how the Fire Nation could still win the war and conquer the world.

Even Azula had begun planning for moves to reach some equilibrium, had looked at Toph and realized that if there were a half-dozen Earthbenders a fifth as spirited as her--no more, because that would be impossible--that whatever shape their conquest of the world would take, it'd have to be a very different shape from what… from what the Fire Lord before her had been imagining.

He wasn't talking about anything but how she could throw it all in the world's face, declare that she'd meant to kill everyone in the Earth Kingdom and only regretted that she hadn't done it. However… it had been an approach that may have had a few flaws. The war was justified, and using Sozin's Comet to truly end the war wasn't a bad idea either, but they'd gotten caught up on a plan that perhaps could not work. It had probably just been a matter of poor execution, considering that she hadn't been planning every step of it, yet…

Azula could not make confessing every crime seem like anything but suicide. She knew she was going to die. She could disprove every accusation, even the true ones, and she'd die. She was going to die because Zuko was learning to be a real Fire Lord, and that meant being ruthless and understanding that politics came long before morality. She was a threat, and so he would kill her.

But that didn't mean she had to help it along.

He was still talking, but she had stopped paying attention.

"No," she said eventually.

"No? Not bringing together some of the experts behind the airships?"

"No. I do not think I will be able to use your services, you buffoon," Azula said. The argument that followed was at least a little satisfying, but she was still left laying in bed for an hour afterward. Somehow, she just wasn't able to think. "I will ask for someone else."

She wasn't able to think of anything except what may come, and what it might cost.

She sighed, and tried to turn her thoughts towards a character, and towards the other war she was fighting. But… it was not quite the same, not anymore. Even her time with Toph had changed, been transformed by Toph's distance and fear. Still, Toph had talked her way through another chapter or so in the conflict, a few days ago… that was more time than anyone else was spending.

It had to be enough.

---

Kiyi was a little annoyed at herself for paying such close attention. Toph was a good kid, all things considered, but… she was supposed to be busy with things like finding time to go on excursions outside the palace. She'd been meaning to get away and maybe spend a few days hiking if she could manage it; the Fire Lord was very good about allowing time off, and in theory she could just find a weekend where she could just go. But she wanted to do a little more than that. Four, maybe five days. Her, some trees, and the wilderness. The closest thing she'd get in the world of the living to paradise.

Or something like it.

Which meant she needed to both not get one of those stupid broken schedules where she worked two days on, one day off for two weeks in a row, or where she felt terrible.

But now she was noticing that Toph Beifong was not okay. Some days were almost normal, but over the next two weeks there was not actually anything consistent about her.

One day she actually laid in bed for hours and hours just tossing a rock around with her bending… and showing remarkably fine control, but still. And then she'd taken several naps. Not just the one she usually took sometime in the afternoon when she got bored, but multiple.

Another day, Kiyi didn't see her at all, until she came in at seven in the morning, clearly having been out all night, and she only came back to grab another set of clothes because she was covered in mud.

"Where were you?" she'd asked, like a complete fool who actually cared rather than just being happy that she could catch up on a book while Toph was busy.

"Training," Toph said.

Yet another day she visited Azula, and indeed she did visit Azula several times each of the weeks, and came back downcast and miserable one time. Another, and she came back happy and almost cheerful.

Ty Lee showed up one of those days, but they had some sort of argument that Kiyi tried not to listen to.

But she couldn't help but notice that Toph stormed off after that.

All of this told her that something was seriously wrong, something so wrong that she had to actually do something.

However, she did not!

She didn't have to!

She shouldn't be required to care about a powerful Earthbender who literally taught the Avatar, who was born into more wealth than Kiyi would ever see in her entire life. Who could have that wealth if she wanted, or shrug and do without it and be fine either way because the Sifu of the Avatar was never someone turned away. Toph was a prodigy beyond imagining and somehow seemed to be friends with Azula, who'd never been more than just barely polite to servants and had at times been cruel to anyone getting in her way, whether servant, bureaucrat, noble or soldier.

Just about all one could say was that Azula's vicious cruelty was less biased towards servants than some nobles, but even then, one couldn't say unbiased because Azula had had, Kiyi assumed, the beginnings of political sense, and so had known there were things one couldn't say…

Though from what Kiyi gathered this went only so far to a bare minimum of feigned politeness to powerful nobles, and only as long as she could not get away with rudeness.

In other words, Azula was someone nothing like Kiyi, for all that she remembered the girl--and girl she was--looking with carefully but not fully concealed awe at the garden. Awe at being out, kept so close in check. Kiyi did not have to ask how or why it came to be that Azula did not feel comfortable showing her emotions. It wasn't as if servants were expected to be open and honest.

And that was one of Toph's friends.

So she had no reason at all for the honesty that led to her saying, "You look terrible," when Toph slunk in after a training session that had left her covered in dirt and slouching. She was usually at least a little bit covered in dirt. She actually seemed to like it, even, which was the most typically Earthbender thing imaginable. (For someone who seemed to dislike so much of Earthbending culture, and who looked nothing at all like the stereotype, Toph Beifong really did fit every single assumption about Earthbenders, down to having a bit of an accent.)

"Thanks," she said, and stood there for a moment.

"Did you at least… figure out whatever you were trying to figure out?" Kiyi asked, because she couldn't say what she really wanted to say. Azula wasn't worth this kind of hassle, and neither was training. It wasn't as if driving yourself into the ground doing bending practice was recommended by anyone at all. She had relatives who were firebenders, including some who had been in the army. So she knew that working through the collapse might be strong and cool, but it wasn't good.

"Not quite," Toph grumbled, and she curled in on herself, and for a moment she seemed almost soft. It was the way she couldn't help but guard her core, as if she were under attack. "It has to do something with… the mindset of a waterbender, maybe? But I'm an Earthbender."

Toph was an Earthbender's earthbender, so if somehow she was doing earthbending that had to do with waterbending, no wonder she was struggling. "It's about going with the flow, right? Waterbending?" Of course she'd also heard that this is why they weren't fully human, because they just accepted and adapted rather than showing passion and strength. But Kiyi had long since figured out that that was nonsense. "You're… the least flow-going person I've ever met," Kiyi pointed out.

"Yeah," Toph said, and for a moment she looked proud before realizing. "Oh." She slumped a little more, rather pathetically. She was not the sort to give up easily, sure, but it seemed like 'easily' had a wide range but a narrow threshold. And 'never giving up' was a little different on an Earthbender than an Airbender or Waterbender… probably. She wouldn't know about the Airbenders, but the Avatar had been willing to be smart and retreat when he was outclassed, even if the propaganda had talked about how he was a coward. When the Day of Black Sun invasion had failed, they'd escaped and everyone in the Fire Nation had been all but required to talk about how it proved that they were invincible, so strong that even without Bending they were better than every other nation. She knew how that had gone.

"Yes, oh. But you'll get it. Maybe not now," Kiyi said. "But I'm sure you'll figure it out. You're young. Really, really young."

Kiyi knew the old folks thought she was young as well, and were probably right. She was just barely out of her teenage years, she had a whole life ahead of her and Toph was even further from what for most people was the starting line.

She hoped that Toph had not reached the peak, because honestly there was something just a little bit miserable about someone reaching the height of their life at twelve or thirteen. Kiyi remembered being twelve and thirteen, and she definitely wouldn't go back unless you offered her a fortune.

"I'm not," Toph protested.

"Fourteen is basically a kid. But don't worry, if you're doing all of this now, then think of what you'll be able to do in even five years. Bending may be a young man's game--"

"A what?"

"It's a… saying, I guess?" Kiyi said, having never thought about it.

"Fine, fine, whatever. Yes?"

"It's a young man's game, but that's, 'bending is exhausting and so if you're an old Firebending Master you've probably lost some stamina.' Bet the same happens for Earthbenders."

"Yep," Toph said, seeming to settle in a little just at the thought of that. "But I'm kinda already there?" She shook her head. "Sorry, being kinda lame."

Toph was not that unusual for a teenager to think showing weakness and vulnerability were 'lame' or 'bad' or whatever it was. But she was pretty sure that saying she wasn't special would be the wrong way to put it. Especially since Toph kinda was. The struggles might not be, but as far as she knew most people didn't save the world at thirteen.

"It's fine. I'm a servant, I'm always going to think you're lame," Kiyi said, which was a little more true than she'd wanted to be.

But Toph burst out laughing and said, "What?"

"Servants might respect a Master, but valorize them?" Kiyi shook her head, and said, "Or anyone sorta-kinda in charge of them, like you are of me." Toph made a face. "You don't stop having power just because you don't like it."

"I know," Toph groaned, but now it was an oddly thoughtful groan, her face puckered up just a little bit, as if she were trying to figure something out. Kiyi had no idea what it was, but she seemed to think very hard about it all nowaday. It was odd, as if she were trying to peer--or something else, since she was blind--beyond just their friendship to… what?

She didn't know, and she shook her head. It wasn't her job to care for Toph Beifong, still heir as far as she knew to the vast Beifong fortunes. They shared very little with each other, and she knew enough to know that a servant caring for those above them rarely ended well. And yet she did, and she knew enough to understand that Toph Beifong was not okay.

---

There was never such a thing as secrets, in the Fire Nation. Not for people such as the Fire Lord. There was no way to send a message that would not be observed, would not be understood. So everyone had all manner of speculation as to why the Fire Lord wished to see the Avatar, all of a sudden. Each bit of speculation seemed only wilder and less credible than the last.

Yet in the speculation, one could truly see the divides which criss-crossed the entire court. For instance, the reactionaries said that it was obvious what was happening! There were rumors that Toph Beifong, the Avatar's mud-person right-hand slave, had refused some sort of position that the false Fire Lord had suggested, to further oppress the Fire Nation in the colonies. Obviously she had done so because she did not trust the false Fire Lord to be subservient enough without her--say her, and not its, out of politeness if nothing else--oversight. She may be a cripple child, but she is a dangerous one, after all. So now the Fire Lord sought to bring the Avatar and demonstrate that he knew the proper angle to lick his sandal, that he was fully and completely a subservient creature of that inhuman beast that calls itself a young man, so that Toph could leave.

On the other hand, those who cared about the idea of Azula as the Fire Lord rather than Ozai assumed that it must have something to do with the trial. Was the Fire Lord going to order her maimed and crippled, given a dishonor so great that the only honorable choice--a choice whose lack made many think Ozai unsuited for the throne even beyond the lack of Bending--was to end herself? If that was so, then they would have to find some way to act, and soon, if they wanted to save her and what could be salvaged of the Empire.

Zuko's ardent but less informed supporters threw up castles in the air of grand projects to remake the whole world into a better vision… visions that of course had the Fire Nation playing a leading role in peace as it had failed to do in war.

Those concerned with the situation in the Colonies could only hope, one way or another, that some kind of solution could be found about the problems with the Earthbending colonial subjects, before the whole region erupted into chaos.

Meanwhile, the most sensible answer came from Zuko's more bored supporters. The young man was friends with the Avatar and wanted to see his friend. Startlingly, they were probably the closest to wrong.

Avatar Aang was coming in less than two weeks…

---

Zuzu's spy had quite a pedigree. Urasa was one of those lawyers who'd found himself on the wrong side of the Fire Nation for the better part of a decade. He made a career of losing cases involving stupid nonsense like so-called "rights" in courts. Now he was a pet advocate, and of all of the definitely spies, he was one of them.

Azula sat back in her bed and said, interrupting his introduction, "I know who you are. Was it not about rights and you simply loved lost causes?" she asked, bitterly. "And so you deign to come here, an incompetent ignoramus, to promise to lose my case as well?" What did he know about anything, anyway? He'd always lost those cases.

Always.

There was no "honor" in losing, in "going down swinging" or "fighting the good fight." You either were perfect and you won or you weren't worth anything. She couldn't see how it'd be different with law and politics. If anything it'd be less so.

"I can promise to save your life, whether you deserve it to be saved or not," Urasa said. "And I do not think you do. You're a child, and that is why I am willing to--"

"A child?" Azula asked.

"It is a choice of whether to believe that or believe that a fourteen year old thinks that mass graves are a fun idea."

"Mass graves?"

"You by testimony currently existing were deeply involved in the Sozin's Comet plan. There are meeting notes, among other things, that speak to plans to create squads of convicts whose jobs would be to bury the bodies in mass graves… it is all written down, all made official. All put into paper just what you and your father intended to do."

"Oh?" Azula asked, and she did not allow herself to be rattled, because some of that did not sound familiar. "So, what?"

"Throw yourself on the mercy of the Fire Lord, repent every crime you've ever done, and you may stand a chance of living to see your eighteenth birthday. I'm sorry to say that there are far more worthy people than you who will never get that chance." He sounded frustrated. "This would hardly be the Fire Nation's first, or even hundredth, mass grave. It would not even be the hundredth in the last decade."

What nonsense. Oh, sure there were some cases of harsh reprisal, and of course there were mass graves! That's how you buried enemies after a battle! Enemy soldiers, if they didn't want to wind up earthworm food, could just run away!

"Pathetic," Azula said, knowing what it was going to do, smirking. "Pathetic that you've spent all your time, your whole life, worrying about Earthbenders and not the victory of the Fire Nation. Whatever… petty nonsense you are talking about is clearly not serious or widespread, and I will not have you insult the--"

"The honor of the Fire Nation?" Urasa said. "It… has none. Perhaps in a decade, under the auspices of the Fire Lord, it might obtain some, but no sooner than that! I only took this up because I thought, perhaps--"

"No one cares about honor," Azula said. "Not when there's victory, and you can't even begin to promise me victory, just that if I surrender my dear brother might--"

"No, I cannot. I cannot promise you the impossible."

"Spoken like someone who doesn't try hard enough," Azula said. The impossible was easy to overcome, easy to surpass. She had no respect for anyone who said it was impossible, considering how often they'd been proven wrongs. The tides did not break the ship, the infiltration of Ba Sing Se did not go badly… she'd done the impossible time and again.

A part of her hated that now she thought she couldn't do it again. "Of course, considering dear Zuzu has rigged the trial already, I am well aware it cannot be done. But if you are unwilling to even try… then you are useless to me."

She wanted a lawyer who understood both the odds and that they must be fought anyway. Someone who could do what she wanted, who wouldn't talk down to her or assume she wasn't aware of the situation… and hopefully someone who was not a worthless pawn of her incompetent brother.

---

Azula considered the text in front of her. It was really adding up, even if it was a first draft, but she didn't know how it was going to end. "What do you think? What happens next?"

"Well," Toph laughed, "Obviously he's going to be gathering his forces, Sparky. That's why he did the whole trick with the Terracotta army an' all that, cause he wanted a chance to gather his real army." Toph sounded thoughtful. "He'd wanna take out each of the three armies separately, and your… I mean, her army is out of place so she couldn't really do more than sweep up the remnants, right?"

"Right," Azula said, rolling her eyes. She had no idea what she was supposed to do for the big final battle then. The story was basically going to end like that. It was the first draft, and she didn't think it was… anything. But it'd been fun, accidentally building something with Toph, and going back to file off the early portions where it was based on a real novel, so that it looked… vaguely like it could be an actual story.

She was almost proud of it, and she knew it was the only distraction she had from the stupid nonsense the lawyer was talking about. She knew it wasn't like that, and if it was the Earth Kingdom had done something to deserve it. It was… it didn't matter.

"So, what's your guy going to be doing?"

"Trying to kill the leader. Beat the person at the top, and it all falls apart."

Azula laughed, "And that's how it's going to end badly. Because she… is going to let him."

---

Toph had changed, just a little bit. It was in how she fought, how she seemed to have only sharpened herself even more. When they sparred, she beat him so effortlessly that even she wasn't having fun. Zuko hadn't really enjoyed the actual sparring and training, but he'd liked a chance to talk to Toph and get to do what he had to do. He couldn't do without training, after all, and if he could even singe Toph's robe…

But lately he hadn't even been able to manage that. She was always trying new things, but now she didn't try anything new at all in his presence. She just seemed to execute each move perfectly, or almost so, because some of them were different now and he didn't understand why or how.

It was oddly intense. "Are you… having fun?" he asked, at the end of one of those bouts, watching her as she stood there, still running through the motions of Earthbending, as if he were just a temporary distraction in the middle.

"Sorta? Dunno if you can help me with this, trying to figure out something about my bending," Toph said, absently. "Just working on it. Kinda have a lot more to learn, I think?"

…if Toph had a lot more to learn about Bending, then everyone else was hopelessly ignorant. Of course, Zuko also knew it was true. There was always more to learn about Bending, and it was still important to him even if he wasn't like Toph. But Toph shifted.

"Listen, Toph, I know you don't agree with my decision regarding Azula… but I want you to understand that… I understand that she can be… persuasive, and that we can disagree." He did! He thought she was wrong, and she no doubt thought he was wrong, but why should these disagreements get in the way of their friendship?

"Yeah," Toph said. "What about it?" She sounded defensive, squinting at him and tensing.

"Aang's coming soon. He wanted to talk about… all of that. I asked him to come. Maybe he'll have a solution. Some way that this can work out," Zuko said.

He had to find a way that worked for everyone. He didn't know what it was, and he knew that he couldn't trust Azula not to manipulate anything. It was what she did. Azula always lied.

"Sure," Toph said, and she sounded as if she'd already moved on from talking to him, but after a moment she added, "I'll talk to him as well. Maybe spar too. Need some more practice going against Airbenders."

Zuko blinked, "But he's the only one?"

"I'm sure there'll be more. Dunno how, but seems like something that'd happen. Isn't there that one kid with the glider?" Toph frowned. "The one he met in the Northern Air Temple."

"Oh, well yes, but he's not a bender."

"Yet. He's not a bender yet," Toph said. "World's weird - odder things have happened than someone learning to bend later." Toph shook her head, "Whatever. Not exactly a philo… sopher or whatever it is. But Bending's like that, right?"

Zuko blinked, confused. "Like what?"

"Y'all always had problems with Earthbenders being born to seemingly 'pure families, didn't you?" Toph asked. "What if it's not because of an Earthbender mistress on the side or whatever that is, but cause Bending's spiritual an' junk? So if you live in the Earth Kingdom, even if it's now a colony, and people start to understand the Earth and think like an Earthbender, who's to say it doesn't just happen? Maybe not with them, maybe just with their kids, but…"

Zuko blinked, and… liked the idea, honestly? He didn't know if it was true, but he smiled. Toph really had given him something to think about. Maybe things would be alright.

---

The fifth lawyer they presented was a woman, Tangi, and spoke calmly and carefully, precisely even. "It is not my job to make defenses that you disapprove of, in that sense."

"What? If you think I have a bad defense you'll just present it?" Azula asked, scornfully. If she thought someone was bad at something she didn't just let them fail.

"It is your freedom at stake, and ultimately you're going to be called up to answer. They'll be using you as a witness, because there are things you've done that you are not going to say did not happen."

"No, I probably wouldn't," Azula admitted. "Unless it amused me."

Tangi chuckled, though it felt pro-forma. "But I do think that we can contest most of the charges, though there are a few that will be… difficult. Either for practical reasons, as with some of the matters involving the drill and the temporary death of the Avatar, or for political reasons."

"Political reasons you say? Imagine that. This trial is political. However could you believe it?" Azula asked, smirking a little as she feigned shock.

"Indeed. But even while it is true that Mai attacked you in return… she is also the future Fire Lady, or so many believe. And… spoken in confidence, were you truly afraid for your life? You seem confident in your own abilities--"

"Of course I am, and… of course I wasn't." She'd just been too angry, too frustrated. But she'd squared up, as people said--she thought--and Mai had as well. Yes, she'd resorted to lightning, which…

Yes. She'd intended to kill Mai while Mai was probably not yet convinced of the need for her execution at the time. This would come later. Azula was under no delusion that Mai was urging Zuko to be less cruel to Azula. She was too smart to underestimate Azula. It was an odd sort of 'compliment.'

"I wasn't afraid for my life. I was simply… angry. So I fought her, and decided that I…"

She couldn't even remember how she felt then. She knew she'd do it again if she was in the same position, but it did seem just a little weaker a justification and a little weaker of a response than she'd remembered… maybe in part because it had failed.

"I understand. My overall point isn't to debate the past with you, but to outline my strategy. I would advise you that we should probably start by knocking down as much of the extraneous or unlikely charges, even if there are some we cannot fully discredit. They're going to attempt to make it a 'weight of guilt' matter, by having so many charges it means that each charge will support each other in the public mind."

"Is that so?" Azula asked, confused.

"Yes. That's what I think. But ultimately, I need to know what you want to do about it. I have ideas about how we could proceed, but it is your life on the line, it is your trial, it is your future. Legally you are an adult, and all I can do is give you advice and try to implement what you want best. That, or resign and let someone else act," Tangi said.

She considered it, and the fact that they'd disagreed on just about everything, and said, "I will consider what you've said. I still have a week and a half to make a decision."

"You do," the woman said, but her voice was curious, lilting upwards. She heard something in Azula's voice that made her wonder.

"My ultimate goal is to stall. I do not believe there can be any other decision besides my execution," Azula confessed. "Zuzu wants to kill me, or thinks he has to, and might even be right. So he will. So I would rather stall as long as possible, to live longer." She wanted more than that, but she could hardly confess that to someone who was just as likely to be reporting all her words to the Fire Lord. So she'd only ever said things she thought she could get away with.

"I see. So you are, no matter who you choose… I see. Understood. I do hope you choose me, but in the end it is your choice and not mine, and so I hope you make the choice you think is best for you."

There was no attempt to be a buddy, no attempt to be a pal, and she kind of liked that.

She didn't need comforting lies or grand pronouncements.

Azula knew her odds, and in her starker, truer moments she knew how this was going to end.

TL A/N: The question of what bending is is one of those side questions that gets talked around a lot… but honestly not always interestingly answered by the shows.

VM AN: The finest legal minds that the Fire Nation has to offer, arrayed before Azula. The war has honestly hollowed out the profession, as far as I figure it - you either agreed with everything the Fire Lord told you, or you tried to oppose everything he did, and neither creates an excellent advocate for Azula. Not that she would have taken either of them even if they were perfect for her!

 

[veteranMortal]

Chapter 29: Air

"Air is the element of freedom. The air nomads detached themselves from worldly concerns and found peace and freedom… also they apparently had pretty good senses of humor."

***​

The skies were clear today, and Aang reveled in the freedom. Nowadays, he had all sorts of fun on the ground, but he always remembered that it was in the sky that he could get away from all of his problems for a while. Appa roared, drawing his attention back down to the capital below. He'd overflown it, just to extend the journey a bit longer, Katara sitting by his side and looking at him in a knowing way.

She didn't hate it either, he knew, because there was a real big problem down there. Azula. He had nightmares sometimes about how she'd almost killed him, and how he'd almost lost himself just shortly before that… had almost made a choice to abandon Katara and everyone he cared about for some vague ideal version of 'the right thing.'

A part of him worried that that's what Zuko was doing, actually. He knew that Azula was mean, but she was Zuko's sister, and what was "politically advantageous" wasn't always, or even often, what was the right thing to do…

He knew how easy it was for duty to become a trap. The monks had had many wise sayings on the fact, and as he tried to piece together everything he remembered of his people, aware that he wanted to preserve something. There were people who cared, he could perhaps revive something of them. What else? He wasn't sure what he could save, but Airbending was spiritual far more than it was physical. Maybe one day someone would just… Airbend.

He wasn't sure at all how it'd work.

"Aang," Katara said softly.

His thoughts drifted sometimes, just here and there and everywhere, even when he wasn't energetic, and she usually helped bring him back.

"I don't wanna go down," he admitted.

"We have to," Katara said, but the reluctance in her voice helped a little bit.

"We do," Aang said. Lives were at stake.

---

They landed in the grand courtyard, and Zuko was there waiting for them. He looked tired. Mai was at his side, and she was looking with hooded, thoughtful eyes. She was thinking too, but he just looked around. There were assembled guards, but they were standing at a remove. "Zuko, what's going on? I've been hearing stories about you, and Toph, and…"

"We can talk somewhere else," Zuko said, rubbing at his eyes.

Somewhere else turned out to be his office, piled high with enough papers to give Aang hives. He was glad that the Avatar wasn't expected to do paperwork, though there were sometimes things to sign just to confirm he'd seen them. But he didn't have an office, and Katara… handled some of the stuff like paperwork, so he didn't have to.

It was a nice office, honesty, and Aang almost felt relaxed. Appa was off doing his own thing, and they'd decided to leave Momo behind, with Sokka and Suki. Hopefully Kyoshi Island would still be there when they got back. You could never be sure, Momo being like they were.

It was a fond thought. He smiled and said, "So, we've heard about everything going on with Azula."

"Right now there are dozens of people resisting trials and getting support because it seems unfair," Zuko said. "Trials that need to be done because the Fire Nation has done evil things, it has sullied its honor and there needs to be justice, there needs to be a process by which at least some of the old supporters either repent their ways or find themselves imprisoned or worse." Zuko looked tired, drawn, and he said, "I… don't want to try her, and I don't want to risk the judge declaring her guilty and deserving of death, even if I've tried to choose the fairest judge I can. But… if it comes to that, I can make my decision later."

"What do you mean, later?" Aang asked, confused.

"I could pardon her for treason or commute her sentence to life in prison if she's going to be executed… and maybe I'll do that, but if I promise that in advance Azula would take advantage of it. And… I don't know if I can afford even that. She's always going to try to take advantage and lie to people, and she's already fooling Toph."

"What's going on there, anyway?" Aang asked. "I didn't want to talk to her about it. It was her birthday!"

"I would have talked to her about that if I'd known," Katara said, and Aang almost laughed because Toph had gone out of her way to avoid being entirely alone with Katara after her birthday for the remaining day or two before they left, just in case she got a repeat of her lecture about how bodies changed and how sex worked.

But then again, it wasn't as if she was going to get up to anything anytime soon. There were honestly bigger concerns.

But… he didn't know how he could feel bad about it? "Why does it matter if she's made friends with Azula? I know she's… bad, but even bad people have friends, don't they? And Toph's tough. I'm sure she'll be alright." Toph was really strong, he really did admire her… okay, he was also a little scared of her, but then he was a little scared of Katara too.

"Azula's hurt people who are strong and sure of themselves. She's had friends before," Zuko said, softly. "She's… dangerous. I don't know if she could ever be let go, and I don't know if she's even safe to leave in prison or whether I'll be dealing with a coup sooner or later." He sounded tired, and now Zuko's head was in his hands. "I don't know what to do, compared to everything else where it's… about doing it right." He rubbed his eyes and looked up, and Aang couldn't help but hurt for his friend.

They'd been through much together, but Aang could not run the Fire Nation. If he even tried, it would only lead to disaster. He knew that people were already saying that the Avatar was too powerful, had too much influence: respected by the Earth King and a good friend to the Fire Lord, and with strong connections to both the Water Tribes. He could make things happen, even if not any of the things he wanted to happen.

But if he wanted to smash with an iron fist, he could have. Aang hated it. Was there anything less free than to rule others? Except of course to be imprisoned.

…yet now Zuko was the Fire Lord. Azula had supposedly gone crazy from it, at least according to Ty Lee. Apparently Zuko didn't believe it, but Aang did, because.. why not? There was a reason the Air Nomads hadn't really had a King or anything like that: they'd had multiple Head Monks at each of the four Temples, and together they would all get together for what few decisions were needed.

And of course plenty of Air Nomads existed only partially in the system of the temples, or rather… well. It was all complicated and he hadn't learned it. But of course he thought that was better than… than all of this.

It was so much more free, so much less detached when everyone had their daily rice and clothing and could focus on higher things. He wasn't sure, but he considered Zuko's perspective. "I could take away her bending… if there's no other choice, but I'm not sure if I'm convinced there isn't some better way to make sure nobody gets hurt."

"It's too late for that," Zuko said. "There's already plots and schemes. There's been at least one assassination attempt on me in the last year… and that's just the plans I know." He sounded tired, but… wait. An assassination? How hadn't he heard?

"Why didn't you tell us?" Katara asked.

"Because it was being handled internally, and if you show up every time there's a problem…" Zuko trailed off, groaning. "They already think I'm a puppet. It's not helping. I'm only calling you here because it's for advice, and talking through options. And because it might be worth it. But everyone who tried to kill me was arrested and jailed, and the ringleaders are being tried. It'll take time, but they'll face justice… and a charge for treason. I'd rather not kill them either, but please don't start a fight with me over that."

Aang looked at his friend, and said, "Is there any way you can take a break, relax a little bit? Maybe sail on your ship or whatever, that you told us about?"

He believed in the power of relaxing, and Zuko had told him after the birthday party that he'd gotten a whole new ship for official visits and trawling around if he ever got a vacation, after…

Aang did a double take. "Did the assassination attempt have to do with the boat?"

"No," Zuko said, baffled. "How would someone assassinate me with a boat?"

"Poking a hole in it?" Aang guessed, because honestly he had no idea either. "Or… you told me once that Zhao blew up your ship?"

"Oh, right," Zuko said, nodding and looking even more tired. "That… would do it." And then all three of them found themselves staring at each other…

…In awkward silence. They'd lost the thread of the conversation. Aang was pretty sure showing off a neat Airbending trick involving moving things with a little ball of air wouldn't distract people this time.

"Do you need me to talk to Toph? I'm… still not convinced, but if I do take away her bending, maybe Toph could be able to help her?" Aang couldn't believe that anyone except maybe the Fire Lord was beyond saving. Even then… a part of him hoped that one day he'd see that he was in the wrong and be less angry, less broken, less cruel.

Aang believed in people, even after all of this. He had to, or what else was there? He hated killing, and he hoped he never had to do it… even though he was pretty sure that he wasn't going to be able to avoid it forever. But, spiritbending had helped him out. It had saved him, and killing was fundamentally wrong in a way he knew he could not justify with fancy philosophy. He just felt it. "And either way, we can at least understand where she's coming from more clearly."

Katara made a sound that he was going to not interpret like a scoff. She was not nearly so invested in sparing Azula, which made sense. "You don't think there'd be any good if we went to see her? Azula, that is?" Aang checked.

Zuko shuddered. "No, absolutely not."

Aang… was glad that Zuko had said no, because he'd have to force himself to do it through shaking hands. She scared him. If anything she scared him more now, because at the time he'd had so many other things to worry about that he'd just pushed through all of it. But fighting Azula now, or even arguing with her, would feel a little bit like it was the…

Bad old days? There'd been so much fun, so much friendship, but also so much suffering. He'd almost died week in and week out for the better part of the year and come out of it in love and with friends he knew he'd have for the rest of his life.

"Okay, we'll talk to Toph, and we'll… see what we can do," Aang said, slowly.

---

It was hard to find a place to pin Toph down. She was free-wandering, and they'd talked for a while about all sorts of things, him and Zuko. Zuko had sorta convinced him that there might be all sorts of good political reasons to allow her to be convicted of treason or that… her execution for her crimes shouldn't be off the table. But he himself wasn't sure either, was clearly wrestling with his own conscience.

He'd told them after a while that he'd selected the judge carefully; there weren't any judges that could be trusted in the Fire Nation, but they had managed to find at least some judges who acknowledged that the Fire Nation had been wrong in a lot of ways, and Zuko had picked one of them - a judge who'd been shuffled around to a minor regional courthouse because he had been unwilling to put his seal of approval on whatever new illegality Fire Lord Ozai had tried to pass.

Zuko had even admitted to Aang and Katara that he'd taken the judge aside and told him that whatever happened in the trial, execution shouldn't be an option, that he ought to just sentence her to life imprisonment.

But he had to admit, this was harder than it should've been. The news from the colonies was bad and getting worse, and it seemed to only encourage his harsher instincts, his more nervous reactions. Aang guessed he understood it. If things were going well, it was easier to be nice and easier not to panic.

But he wasn't sure if that was an excuse or not. Aang knew that most of his life had been peaceful… but he also knew, now, that the Colonies were going up, the castes were being created, the world was careening towards war and the extermination of Airbenders during his happy childhood. It… that part of it wasn't his fault, even if he ran away from his duties.

Roku had done his best too, and yet Aang knew that he'd made mistakes, just like Kyoshi, who made the Dai Li and made other decisions…

Sometimes when he meditated he'd follow the whole chain back, which was silly because he hated chains and these sorts of strict rules. But one could trace the first hints of the Fire Nation going wrong back a dozen Avatars, apparently? Aang didn't know what to do with it, with all this knowledge from his past lives that showed versions of him (or, he a version of them) that… that were all so very different.

There was no piece of advice that would not have another Avatar, if he spent long enough asking, disagreeing with it. He'd even found past Avatars who agreed with his reluctance to kill under any circumstances, though he'd had to dig far too hard… even if plenty of his past lives acknowledged that he'd made it work with Ozai.

Katara sometimes teased him that he talked to himself too much, but this past year as the situation in the Colonies got worse he found himself diving again and again to talk with his past lives.

It was oddly free, to know that whatever he did, he couldn't be the greatest Avatar either, or the worst, because there had been plenty of great Avatars and those who, despite their efforts… had not felt they'd truly done what they set out to do.

So, what did Avatars do? Well, if he was going to talk to Toph, then that's what Avatars did.

She wasn't easy to find - she wasn't in her quarters, nor the training fields; not even down in the cells, when Aang finally asked one of the guards to check

Aang didn't like prisons - he had never liked them, and his multitude of spells of imprisonment in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom both had done little to endear them to him. Suffocating and still, trapped underground without any way to feel the air on his face, the sun on his shoulders. No, Aang didn't like prisons.

The Air Nomads had never had prisons, or at least he had never heard of them, and doubted Gyatso would've lied to him about it. If someone in one of the Air Temples committed a crime, they would find out why, and accordingly make them make their amends. In the worst cases, they would be sent into exile, so they could do no more harm.

But he understood the Fire Nation was different, and he didn't object, not like Toph did.

He tried to imagine how she must feel, tried to imagine how he would feel if he had just made a friend and all of a sudden, a whole nation was bent towards putting her on trial, maybe killing her.

Disgusted, probably. So disgusted that he wouldn't want to even look at them - or, see them with his feet, as Toph did.

Aang squinted up into the sun, at the volcano's rim all about them.

"Appa!"

Toph was on the very rim of the Caldera, positioned just above the tunnel through it, between the city and the harbour, a dagger in each hand, 'sparring' with a pair of molded stone figures, and Appa landed on the ridge behind her with a huff of effort.

"Hey Twinkletoes." Toph said, without turning around. "Hey Sweetness."

"Hey Toph," Aang replied reflexively, walking up to stand at her shoulder.

She was looking - or, rather, she was facing - east, towards the sea. The great climbing road up zigzagged before them, alive with merchant caravans and travellers. The harbour below was dotted with ships of all kind - the light, fast craft of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, the delicate Junks of the Earth Kingdom, and the ever present steel behemoths of the Fire National Navy, now laden heavy with trade goods.

"What's up, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, "I'm pretty sure you came up here to talk 'bout something, so spill."

"We've been looking for you everywhere!" Katara said, frustration lending her words a timbre that was almost accusatory, "Were you avoiding us?"

"No," Toph said, "Just sick of the Royal Palace."

"Why?" Aang asked, "Has Zuko not been making you feel welcome enough?"

"I just don't like one of my friends trying to convince me that another one needs to die." Toph said bitterly.

Aang and Katara exchanged an uneasy glance.

"Zuko told me about that," Aang said delicately, "No one wants Azula to die, Toph."

Toph stamped her foot, and the two stone figures on the clifftop exploded into dust, making Aang flinch as powdered stone fell around them, into Toph and Katara's hair and Aang's clothes.

"No, but Zuko is willing to risk it to look better," she snapped, "I told him she needs help, not a trial, and he didn't believe me."

"Other than the comet," Katara said, "Azula always seemed sane to me."

"And how much time have you spent with her lately?" Toph replied acidly, "How much time has Zuko spent with her lately?"

"I believe you." Aang said, "If you say Azula needs help, if you think a trial would do more harm than good, I believe you."

Toph turned to him in a flash, "So you'll tell Zuko not to try her?"

"Well," Aang said, "I don't think I should do that?"

"Oh," Toph said, "Right, 'cause Zuzu's worried he looks like your puppet?"

"Well… yes?" Aang said, "I don't run the Fire Nation, and I shouldn't run the Fire Nation! There are people all over who want to go back to war, and they will, if we undermine Zuko's rule!"

"Who's undermining Zuko's rule?" Toph asked petulantly, "I just don't think a trial is the only way to deal with Azula - if everyone thought she was crazy, no one would wanna make her Fire Lord anyway, so she wouldn't be a threat!"

"Even crazy," Katara replied, "She's a powerful firebender, and a symbol people can rally around."

"Isn't that the fault of the people looking for a symbol?" Toph said, "Just deal with them instead."

"Do you think we aren't trying?" Katara asked, "Every day, more of Ozai's loyalists are dismissed from the army, more factories are shut down or made to stop producing tanks and battleships, more ships turned into traders! Zuko is taking their power as fast as he can without restarting the war, Toph."

"Why would the war restart if he did it any faster?" Toph asked, "Why can't Zuko just tell the whole lot of them to lay down their weapons, and then we beat up anyone who refuses?"

"I thought that!" Aang said, "But King Kuei said some of his Generals would invade the colonies and he wouldn't be able to stop them."

"Then we could beat them up!" Toph said, but weaker.

"Toph," Katara said kindly, "We could talk you through why this is more complicated than that, but you decided you didn't want to be involved! You don't have to run the colonies like Zuko asked you to, but it means you can't also tell us how to do it."

"That doesn't mean we don't want to hear from you!" Aang said hurriedly, "We always want to hear your opinion! We just can't spend time explaining things to you after you choose not to get involved, you know?"

"Well maybe I don't want to run the colonies for Zuko," Toph said, "But I'm involved with Azula, and I don't see why I can't be!"

"She can't just be let out," Aang said, "She's too dangerous politically and-"

He shifted his weight uncomfortably, and the scar tissue on the bottom of his foot felt dull and senseless again.

"Her bending scares me." It felt like weakness to admit it, like a fear that he ought to be past, as the Avatar, but if he couldn't admit weakness in front of Toph and Katara, who could he trust? "She killed me, Toph. Katara had to bring me back from the dead!"

"Yes, but-" Toph began.

"I know she can't just be locked away because she scares me," Aang interrupted, "I'm not a baby, I just… It matters! It matters that she killed me, and it matters that you're asking me to protect her from the consequences of that!"

"She hurt you," Toph acknowledged, "And she's not sorry about that, and I don't know when, or even if, she ever will be. I'm sorry about that! But I'm not sorry for asking you if there's another way, because there has to be!"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Aang said cautiously, "I think I do have a solution."

Toph turned to him suspiciously. "Do you?"

"The problem isn't Azula really," Aang said, "The problem is the symbol she represents! An alternative Fire Lord, a bender who could fight the Avatar, the Fire Nation Princess who took down Ba Sing Se!"

"But how does that help?" Toph asked, "She will still represent those things no matter what happens?"

"Not no matter what," Aang replied, "No one's calling for Ozai to reclaim his throne."

The words fell like a lead weight. Aang winced at his own lack of tact, whilst Katara made a face and Toph…

Toph staggered back, hand up to her mouth, as though holding back the desire to throw up.

"Are you suggesting," she said quietly, "Taking Azula's bending away?"

"It's worth thinking about!" Aang said, "Without her bending, she's not useful to any of the people Zuko is worried about, so she can get treatment for her problems! No one needs to die, and Azula doesn't even need to stay in prison!"

"Death would be kinder," Toph said angrily, "Her bending is a part of who Azula is, Aang! It'd be like taking my Earthbending, or your airbending! You can't do that to her!"

"We can't try her, we can't take her bending, we can't send her to the asylum, what can we do with her?" Aang asked, throwing his hands up.

"I don't know!" Toph shouted, "I don't know what to do with her, but I feel like everyone is just giving up on the problem! Zuko just wants the court to handle her so he doesn't have to, Ty Lee is just leaving it for Zuko to handle her, and you just want to take her bending so you don't need to worry about her any more!"

"Maybe," Katara said, voice growing sharp. "You could be right that if we really thought about it, we could come up with another option for what to do with Azula. We could fly around the world on Appa, finding some guide or spirit or expert who could come here and help her out. We could find somewhere she could go and be healed, or something! Maybe. But we don't have time, Toph. Do you know how many other people are imprisoned in the Fire Nation?"

Toph frowned, "No, but-"

"Nor does anyone else," Katara said, "There's so many prisons, and so few records! We don't know how many people are in them, and we don't know why half of them are in there, and the prison wardens are so hostile that we can't find anything out without a writ from Zuko and a platoon of soldiers! And that's just one thing in one of the Nations, Toph! You don't need to help us with this, but we can't just do whatever you ask, you know?"

"So that means Azula just gets discarded?" Toph asked, "Either Aang takes her bending so she feels dead or Zuko drags her out for a trial in front of everyone, and she gets sentenced to death?"

"That's not fair," Aang said, "If I don't take her bending, I was going to talk to Zuko, and we'd talk to the judge about-"

Whatever Aang was going to say was cut off abruptly, as the stone beneath their feet roiled and cracked.

A great pillar stabbed up out of the ground, lifting Toph to tower over them both.

"I'm not a child!" Toph shouted over the grinding of rock beneath her feet.

As she spoke, she shifted, and the pillar tilted abruptly, setting the whole side of the caldera to rumble. Before Aang or Katara could say anything more, Toph's pillar began to move, first slow, then a lot faster, grinding through the stone and rock of the caldera, headed more or less directly down, towards the road between Caldera City and the harbour below.

"I know sometimes things are hard!" Toph said, "I'm not stupid! I just thought if I asked for something, my friends would at least try!"

The chasm left by her rocky drill as she disappeared into the mountain was large and rough, and Aang and Katara made heavy going, only occasionally managing to gasp out a plea for Toph to slow down or wait for them, before the end of Toph's tunnel burst into sudden light - she'd made it to the Caldera-Harbour tunnel, scattering stone and dirt all over the tunnel as she landed, unsteady on her feet, and then stood, looked up at Aang and Katara, perched halfway down the tunnel, and disappeared without another word.

Aang didn't speak to Toph again before he had to leave the Fire Nation.

TL AN: It'd honestly be so much easier if any of them didn't actually mean well.

VM AN: Everyone's doing their best, they just have different priorities, and different preconceptions. It's unfortunate.

 

[The Laurent]

Chapter 30: Flow/Control

Everyone knew about the break almost as soon as it happened. Earthbending was not that subtle, and none of the people involved seemed to be able to keep it under wraps anyway. Exactly what they'd been arguing about was hard for most people to know. Though they didn't know that they didn't know it, the guards were quite loyal to Zuko, and so information about Toph's regular visits hadn't slipped out like it 'should.' Even the picnic rumors, from Azula's birthday, often only included Toph incidentally.

So the rumors were (mostly) not about Azula, at least at first, until servant's gossip did at least put forward that there'd been a meeting between Zuko, Ty Lee, and Toph. And it wasn't as if Ty Lee wasn't associated with Azula…

But the main rumor had to be a disagreement about the colonies. The colonies, where things were heating up. But had Zuko been advocating a harder line and Toph supporting him and then the argument was with the Airbender's soft weakness? Or was the Avatar fed up with the failure and incompetence of Earthbenders and ready to rein in her power and… what?

The problem was, Toph did not talk to anyone, and almost no one talked to her… well, nobody knew about her regularly meeting Azula, or rather it was a minor rumor to most.

Han was not most men, however. He'd gathered that Toph Beifong was, somehow, amazingly, talking to Azula. It was impossible to tell what, or how often, but he'd managed to finagle from one vulnerable Captain Tai Tsai that Toph's attack on him hadn't just been because he was a pathetic and worthless nobody. Though he was that, even if he'd apparently taken to obsessively training both his whip and firebending… and then found it not even remotely enough against Toph shortly after the unknown meeting potentially about Azula.

But it'd also been because someone had passed along a story of Azula's childhood. The Princess, and perhaps rightful Fire Lord, though he did not care the least about that, was a vengeful person indeed… a woman after his own heart.

Lord Han Shinwoo had his grudges, and he had his schemes. But it would take time for them to be enacted, truly. It would actually advance his goals quite wonderfully if Azula died, of course. Not that anyone thought that about him. He was a handsome young man, who navigated the ebb and flow of court without so much as any concern for ideology. He'd drifted naturally into the path of the Fire Lord, after what General Iroh had done to his father, the whole… embarrassing affair. And people had just believed that, as if it was not a matter of the whole rotten family.

So he considered the situation, musing on the ebb and flow. Every stupid fool in the entire world was now trying to re-evaluate what this meant. He could see things more truly, more clearly, because he did not care about it. Iroh, Azula, and Zuko were all that was left of the line, or all that was left of the main line. He did not care about the branches, let them squabble over the carcass, let them tear the Fire Nation apart in the wake of the fall of the royal line.

Zuko was the most dangerous one. Azula was sure to get herself killed, and Iroh was far out of his reach for now. He'd never been one for the delusion of confronting Iroh and accusing him of all manner of things. He knew that this would end in his death. Iroh was a ruthless, brutal tyrant, whatever delusional impression of harmlessness he seemed to have cast upon so much of the Fire Nation had far more to do with his brother's jealousy.

But it wasn't politics.

If he had been a vicious, brutal tyrant who had not had his father killed, Han was under no delusion: he would not have cared.

Zuko was a fool, which in some ways was even more useful than a tyrant when scheming. Judge Fumio of the famed judicial family Aikawa was slated to be the judge for the trials that were not yet formally created. The Aikawa family had always been strictly neutral, politically, and Judge Fumio had gotten an ill-deserved reputation as being even-handed when in truth he was simply canny.

So Zuko was going to assign him to try his sister, and according to Fumio himself, in pure confidence, Zuko had asked him to strongly consider impartiality and fairness in the trial but mercy in the sentencing.

He had not ordered it, even though technically a Fire Lord had the means to do so, or tried to enforce it through underhanded means.

Judge Fumio had interpreted that, quite logically, as simply the protests of a powerful Lord who must not seem unfilial. He'd also resented the implication that a cloak and dagger was needed. No, he'd be happy to ditch the cloak and drive the dagger into Azula's heart, make her and Ozai the bearer of all the sins of the Fire Nation and dispose of them.

And he'd allowed the name of the judge to leak, just now, in passing, to one Toph Beifong.

She would talk to the judge, and no doubt her uncanny ability to tell lies would tell her the truth: that Fire Lord Zuko, whatever virtues he had, was knowingly or unknowingly driving the situation closer and closer to an explosion point. Oh it was so sad that he was busy in the colonies, though Han hadn't been able to do any more than encourage intransigence from this or that person, turning them against each other with a well-chosen letter.

But even that might well have been, as his father might have said, farting in a hurricane. Always one for homely statements, no wonder he and the Tyrant General had been friends… once.

He shouldn't be doing this, but he liked it: he liked watching the flow enough that he'd set up at one of the places where the gossips gathered with a bento and begun to dig in, watching the intersection of this part of the palace. If everything in his scheme had gone right… ah, there she was.

Face set. Face almost blank. Determined. She'd talked to the Judge and she knew that the Fire Lord was making a mistake… not that he'd mind the mistake being made, one less member of the family to kill. But perhaps he could get the Beifong girl riled up enough that she did something drastic. Who knew what you could do to a friend in a moment of anger and betrayal? He did not know if he could achieve it, he truly had to act circumspectly, but even just imagining a scenario where Zuko was killed by his friend in a fit of rage, where Iroh's beloved nephew was no more, was enough to make his Jasmine tea taste as sweet as honey.

Lord Shinwoo smiled, and did not wonder what went on in the head of the most dangerous Earthbender alive.

---

"That's going to be a problem," Tangi admitted, faintly, though she sounded more thoughtful when she continued. "It's not an insurmountable problem, but… I'll work around it."

"I do not see how it is a problem. I know I always lie, but this time I'm telling the truth," Azula said with a smirk.

"So you were fully aware of what it entailed? You went to all of the follow-up meetings? Even though it records you going to only two, and both of them more about the firebending skills needed to join the airfleet? You are claiming you went to the meeting discussing the post-Comet plans, and whether they could 'burn out' the crops in areas not under Fire Nation control to corral the populace into holding areas to be dealt with at a later date, any that remained after… everything? You were there, when the notes say you were not?"

Azula tensed, and she wondered what nonsense she was expected to believe. Of course there'd been no such meeting, she would have known about it. And… yes, there was cause for ruthlessness, ruthlessness, and more ruthlessness, but how exactly was one… no, don't think about it. The previous Fire Lord, the rightful Phoenix King, clearly knew what he was doing. If he didn't, then he'd made a mistake appointing her Fire Lord, and if that was so then she was… no. She'd known everything he was doing, even the things that were made up by Zuzu. Or, let her be honest, probably made up for Zuzu. The fool was far too obsessed with his honor to lie like that, but also far too able to believe the worst of the Fire Nation.

Though even if it was the case that it happened, surely… no.

"Besides that that detail is clearly faked to make the Fire Lord look worse, I'd be aware of everything. I was Ozai's official heir," Azula said grandly. "And not by default, like dear Zuzu." He'd only ever been the heir by default because the Fire Lord was far too used to the worthless court women, and he had incorrectly assumed she was like other girls, that despite her dedication and hard training she'd swerve from her loyalties and dedication.

She was never going to let a crush on a boy or other such things distract her like other women did… indeed, she felt no such pitiful emotions, love was entirely outside of her interest. No doubt in her twenties she would get married to some… politically advantageous candidate, and do… whatever was needed to have the necessary number of heirs, and that was that. It wasn't anything to obsess over, and indeed doing so seemed pitiful to her. Who'd be that interested in a boy, anyway? She'd had a plan for her life, something she could control.

Speaking of…

"Slam the door, please," Azula said. She wasn't entirely sure if this was real. It'd be like her mind to make up stupid excuses for why she was "less guilty", as if she were guilty at all, as if she'd done anything wrong.

Tangi considered it, and as Azula slipped onto the floor and closed her eyes she slammed the door behind her hard. Azula felt the rocking and the shaking. She knew her mind could make up many things, but she knew this was a way to be sure. A way to be certain, if she just focused on it and didn't let her eyes trick her.

Her eyes were always lying, but there were other senses. If she had learned anything from Toph--and in truth she had learned much--it was just how true this was. So she closed her eyes so her eyes couldn't fool her and felt the shaking.

"Good, thank you," Azula said. She was not going to explain it to Tangi. "So. Do not assert that I was not aware of the general outline of things. I may not have known every single quibbling little detail…"

"If you want to stall, quibbling over the details could get you days of courtroom time," Tangi said.

"Then… I'll allow you to do such quibbling, but not if you're going to stand by such an assertion. Do… whatever it is you need to, in order to distract the judge. Do we know who it is yet?"

"We will hear officially soon, but it's… likely to be the best choice for us available?"

That tone of voice made it very, very clear that the best choice available and a good choice were not the same thing.

"I see," Azula sneered. "To be expected. They're all incompetents, crooks, or worse." She smiled, and knew that if she had more control, if she had the influence, the power, and the face to face contact she could find a way to get to someone like that. She'd never failed to get to someone… well, when she'd sort of failed with Toph it'd worked out in a different way. That counted as the same thing, she was certain.

"But I am sure you will do the best you are able," Azula said, and grinned at that. "You're certainly the best choice available for me." She said it in the same tone that Tangi used.

"I see," Tangi said, and continued, "So there's a few other things to settle while we're here…"

---

After the day's greeting, which this time was a lazy "Yo, Princess", Toph dove into doing what she'd been doing the past few times they'd met. She'd been telling stories about the Avatar's adventures before her, because she'd gotten those stories and it amused her to hear secondhand stories of Zuko getting humiliated and beaten up by a twelve year old. Toph had apparently gotten most of the details out of Sokka, of all things, but Aang had told her some and all of their secrets were now flowing, of course, to Azula.

Most of them were entirely pointless. "They just… find the flying lemur-monkey?" Azula asked, frowning.

"Yep," Toph said. "It's also there when he discovered the whole 'Fire Nation murdered all of his people down to the babies and little children' thing. Cause he'd been sure they had to just be hidin'."

Azula blinked, "Wait, didn't he flee from…"

"Nope. He'd been told he was the Avatar early and was tryin' to run away. Course, I kinda get that," Toph said, and Azula could imagine her shrugging. "Then he got caught up in a storm and wound up frozen, like I said. So, he wakes up and he's sure things are fine. He told me he had a half-dozen Fire Nation friends, never thought there'd be war…"

Azula was baffled. She supposed the Avatar, at twelve, wouldn't have been told of the Airbender secret plans to invade and conquer the colonies at the behest of the Earth Kingdom. Not that it wouldn't have been justified even without that hidden scheme, because power justified itself. If you were strong, you did whatever you wanted and that was justice. If you were weak you either tried to get strong or you suffered what you must to survive and try to find strength.

Azula was only temporarily weak, so it didn't count for her. Some days she was sure she was going to die, but today was one of those days where she felt like she'd live, if she could just think a little harder about how to scheme her way out of this. Toph at least always squeezed the bracelet. She always knew when Toph was there, and the answer was: not often enough.

She sat with her usual throne posture, feet on the ground because Toph preferred it that way. Perhaps there was something to be said for the doors between them: Toph would probably track dirt all over otherwise.

She was a very strange… friendly acquaintance, considering she'd only ever known Toph between two doors and one ill-fated birthday present that, after the fact, seemed like a sign of the coming troubles. The candle flickered, her emotions rising up for a moment, but she had control of herself, perfect control. It was why she could do something that nobody had ever done, at least not in recorded memory.

"And so, what happened when he learned? He cry?" Azula asked, sing-song.

"Avatar state," Toph said. "Had to be talked down." Toph didn't sound afraid of it, but then again Azula had faced it down intact as well. She could acknowledge that for a lesser person, the Avatar State might be concerning.

"The Avatar can do mildly impressive things in the Avatar State," Azula conceded. "For a child. All the… what? All the power of past Avatars at his fingertips? Surely it has to add up, as pitiful as it all is."

"Hey, watch it," Toph said, firmly. "Avatar before Roku was Kyoshi."

There's a reverence in Toph's voice that Azula finds quite distasteful.

"And why would I care about that?" Azula asked. "Considering the warriors in her name…"

"Oh, of course they'd not tell you about Kyoshi, the Fire Nation prolly doesn't tell stories the way the Earth Kingdom does."

"No, they do not." Azula agreed shortly, and let her lips curl.

"Course, the stories are diverging again. According to Kiyi, she was practically married to a Fire Nation warrior girl, and she thinks it is romantic, or at least a lotta people do," Toph said. "Rangi or something."

Azula sneered, and searched for some cutting insult for this… this… something. It was clearly not right, there was a reason, there had to be, that it'd been outlawed for a century, and Father certainly hadn't…

Azula found it a little harder to find the right thing to say, but she'd have to make sure to say the nastiest, coldest thing she could say in order to make sure it was clear she agreed with Father. It was just a little harder for her to pick the right one, that's all.

But before she could manage that, Toph had moved on.

"But I don't really care about any of that. I care about cool bending she did. Back before she even knew she was the Avatar, and without the Avatar state, she raised a bunch of the sea floor when she was fighting waterbender pirates."

Azula blinked, and almost felt awe. But of course she felt nothing but contempt for that or any other Avatar. "Oh, is that all? I'm sure you could do that, if you bothered to try." She meant it, too, for all that this was also a sneering dismissal of the Avatars and everything they stood for.

"Really? Maybe I should. But then later she did somethin' I haven't figured out how to copy yet, she had this trick involving walking on air with just earthbending…"

That's how the next hour went: her bringing up impressive things that the Avatar had done, and Azula dismissing all of them as either pathetic or something that, no doubt, Toph could do if she only tried. Or both.

It was the most fun they'd had in weeks, and Azula wondered if she'd hear stories of Toph walking from the Fire Islands to the Earth Kingdom by next week.

VM AN: Azula's categorical refusal to acknowledge her father didn't really respect her is one of her less helpful traits when it comes to defending herself from accusations of being complicit in his atrocities.

TL AN: Most Avatars after their death have stories told among their type of Bender until the cycle comes around, though Kyoshi more than most. Roku wasn't acknowledged and given overblown stories of his deeds because of the Fire Nation going evil, sure, but have you considered he was also kinda a scrub?

 

[veteranMortal]

Chapter 31: Lightning

"There is energy all around us. The energy is both yin and yang; positive energy and negative energy. Only a select few firebenders can separate these energies. This creates an imbalance. The energy wants to restore balance and in a moment the positive and negative energy come crashing back together. You provide release and guidance, creating lightning."

***​

One no doubt dreary day not that long after she'd heard Toph's stupid Kyoshi Stories, someone came to visit.

By now Azula knew enough about how Toph moved, and how it sounded, to know it wasn't Toph opening the door. She was on her bed, and she wasn't able to ground her feet on the floor (like an earthbender, a bitter, vicious part of her added) to try to make sure it was real. She… could not appreciate anything about her imprisonment. That would be absurd, and painfully self-defeating. However, she could admit that there would be a period of adjustment when she got out, though she was sure the problem was the imprisonment. Once she was free, she wouldn't see anything ever again.

As it was, she felt confined in more ways than one. It was so boring, so dull, and with so many rules, restrictions and schedules. It was enough to drive anyone perhaps slightly unhinged. Not crazy, no, obviously she wasn't crazy. Only weak, pathetic people were crazy, and she was not weak. She terrified Zuko so much he was going to have her executed in a show trial.

She groaned. "Who is it? I can tell it's not Toph, she sounds different. Is it my dear brother, here to bargain once again? Or is it someone I haven't seen in a while." It could be her mother, somehow, back having been rescued or un-exiled by Zuko to tell her all sorts of cruel things. She couldn't know for sure that it wasn't real. She couldn't…

She grimaced and stood up, and then let herself flop down on the floor. It was a hard, cold, miserable floor and she always felt like such an Earthbender when she did it.

"It's me, Azula," Zuko said. The Fire Lord's voice was soft, but there was nothing yielding in it. She'd noticed that Zuko had gotten a little stronger of late. Stronger but more tired. No doubt his petty ideals would wear down in the face of the consequences of his incompetence and failure. It wouldn't matter. Someone like Zuzu would always be like that.

"Is it? Slam the door again," she demanded, grinning. "Just to show you're the same angry little boy as always."

"No. I'm not going to play your games," Zuko said.

Which, to be fair, he could say that even without… but she thought that this might be a hallucination. She listened carefully, but she couldn't tell. She closed her eyes and tried to focus. "Oh? But you've done so before. Every time I talk to you, Zuzu, you're so easy to wind up."

"Azula," Zuko said, and it wasn't even the fun kind of frustrated.

But he didn't leave. That's when she knew that he wasn't real, because the real Zuzu was a coward who ran the moment she got even a little bit mean. He could not stand up to anything at all, for all he would claim he was just "refusing to indulge this behaviour." She let that thought shoot through her, lightning in the veins, control and the awareness that she didn't have to hold out. "Zuko. We all know how this is going to end. A true Fire Lord is strong, doesn't take any challenges, crushes anyone who could possibly threaten their reign." She grinned. "I heard it months ago. You're finally starting to think, when your scruples don't get in the way, like a true Fire Lord. So you'll have no other choice than to make sure to have me murdered by your little trial, just like I don't know if there's any choice but to kill you if I get free." She frowned, "Which, well, it's annoying, because as pitiful as you are I'd prefer not to kill you. There's no fun in it."

"And yet you'd kill me, if you got out?" Zuko's voice was strange and angry, frustrated, as if he was trying to understand her but just couldn't, had missed some central

"It'd be kinder than locking you away," Azula admitted. "I'd thought about doing that. But if you're really thinking like a Fire Lord, being in prison would just make you worry and worry and worry and worry about 'your' Throne. You'd pace around locked in a tiny little box with nobody to visit. I'd probably do something cruel," Azula sneered, and now she stood up. No need to lie. "Lock you between two stupid doors and only let you out for sun. Or maybe not even that. Maybe not even that." She whispered that last bit, let it be a threat and a promise. "But that'd be cruel, wouldn't it? Oh, how cruel that would be. Only a monster could do something like that." She grinned at the thought, at the words. "And yet there is me, and there is you."

"I had no choice--"

"You're right, you didn't. Congratulations. It was a smarter move than letting me escape, it really was." She allowed herself to applaud slowly, carefully. "It was the sort of move that was inevitable, I grant, but smart nevertheless."

"So is that it?" Zuko asked, and he let out a tired sigh. "That's all there is?"

"What else is there? Mother, who loved you enough to murder the Fire Lord herself? Father who…"

She couldn't say it. Her voice came out a little choked, because she hadn't asked Toph to check in on him. She hadn't thought about him at all, and suddenly she was hit with it so hard that she actually doubled over, as if he were some sort of kidney stone, some sort of physical ailment, some kind of malady. "Who…"

"Was father," Zuko said, and impossibly his voice had softened just a little bit. It was enough to make her want to tear him apart.

She hadn't, she hadn't even. All this time, and Father had barely been in the back of her mind, let alone the front. The realization struck her, as did the frustrating strange feeling that she'd been happier not thinking about him… well, of course she had been! Because it was better than thinking about the indignities he'd gone through with the loss of his bending, that's all. She'd be happy to think of him if he were happy, and she was frustrated and angry to think about him because she thought about all that…

"Azula?" Zuko asked.

Azula realized she had not said anything for almost a full minute. "Just considering things, Zuzu. I know you're not much of a deep thinker, but sometimes people take meaningful pauses before they speak." She wrapped herself in her dignity and sneered at the blank iron door. "Uncle, who left the comfort of his palace rooms to follow you into exile. And then there was me."

She kept on speaking, "I worked twice as hard, I achieved four times as much, and still stupid Uncle and worthless Mother and…"

"Father told me I was lucky to be born! I didn't even… I didn't even have any friends," Zuko pointed out.

Azula's sneer grew sharper, "Funny, that. Meanwhile I had Mai and Ty Lee…"

She stopped.

Wait.

Had she just called them her friends? She had, hadn't she? Said it and meant it? They had been her friends. Had been. Or, had she just thought that. She probably didn't really have friends, she didn't even know what it was that counted as friendship! Mai didn't want to see her at all, and Ty Lee tiptoed around her with an awkward, uncomfortable lack of…

Something felt wrong. Her chest ached. Her body ached. It felt as if for a moment she was not where she should be, was at a distance from herself as she took a breath. She felt so angry, that had to be it. Angry at herself for having said something foolish. Of course they weren't her friends, of course they… of course they'd turned on--

But, she'd turned on them as well. They'd betrayed her, they'd…

She spoke harshly without even really thinking. "But you, oh dear Zuzu, you didn't have any friends at all until you switched sides."

"And you don't have any now, Azula," Zuko said, his voice raising up. "I had to learn who really mattered to me, I had to meet people who'd see me for me, like Aang, like Katara, like Toph and Sokka… and I couldn't do it by lying to myself! By making everything about pleasing Father because Azula, Father was barely even pleased with you, and you were everything he made you and more. Azula, you have nobody. No friends. Is that right?"

She opened her mouth, but couldn't find the words. She choked on it, her gaze hot, her hands trembling. How dare he. But could she ever believe she had Toph's friendship and Toph had hers in return? They were friendly enough, as long as there was no real emotion, as long as she didn't have to trust Toph not to betray her in her own name. But she knew what friendships are, insipid and worthless as they were. Friendships were powerful, heartfelt bonds without a punctuation mark, without any apology and without the kinds of things that told her that she had probably never had friends.

She'd had people she could make fun of, like Ty Lee, and people she could make fun of other people with, like Mai, but were they really friends? Now that she thought about it, she didn't know at all and she hadn't wanted to ask even at her most confident. Because she hadn't cared, and she didn't care.

Yet some part of her almost wished, against all sense and against all reason and against her loyalty to the Fire Nation, that she and Toph were friends, as they so manifestly--

"Pathetic," a voice said, and it was familiar. "You failed, you lost, and now your standards are so low that a badger mole counts as a person to you? Why Azula, are you everything that others thought you were?"

Father was in front of her, standing tall, standing regal. He looked tired, and he was dressed in prisoner's garb, dressed in nothing worth remembering. He seemed regal, powerful, looming over her. He couldn't be here. He wasn't here. But it didn't… it didn't feel unreal. Some part of her brain was sure he was real even though she knew better. She reached out to her bracelet, grabbing it and holding it tight.

"Just a weak, pathetic girl, clinging onto a friendship bracelet--"

"No," Azula said, and she could not help the shake. It was a voice that promised punishment. She'd never done much to deserve anything, but a few times before she'd learned to be perfect she'd warranted it. Never anything like what Zuko deserved for his failure and weakness. She'd never been enough of a fool to earn that. "I'm, it's not--"

"Oh, so you're using the little savage? Is that it? Letting her hold your hand and smile at you and talk to you about nothing? Did you ever think that you could trick her into touching the door and then use your Lightning to kill her? Hit the door with it, and--"

"Are you trying to talk about Toph with me?" Azula said aloud, which she thought answered both of the illusions well enough. "Really? You? What do you know of anything involving…"

"Azula, she's my friend."

"She's just a muddy bit of refuse, crawling around blind and worthless, just another cripple," Ozai said, his voice calm, but promising that if she said anything else, if she did not turn back now, the consequences would make Zuko's burn look like nothing. "It is beneath you to associate with one such as her."

"Is she?" Azula asked, laughing, trying to be confident instead of scared. It wasn't real. None of this was real. She stood up and began pacing. "I don't think you know anything about her." An answer to both of them. "Except what you want to see."

She could not control her tone of voice.

"Unless… are you afraid you do not have enough control to lightning bend? It is an advanced technique for a girl--" Ozai began, and this was not him. This was obviously not him.

She let out a breath, and smoke came with it. Fire filled her veins, and this was only barely a metaphor as she closed her eyes and began to run through katas, through the motions that could produce fire if she chose to. But she didn't choose to. She had control, she had--

She opened her eyes, and saw the subtle mirage that came with heat, and knew that she'd failed. Her control was less than perfect, less than flawless, and Zuzu was talking and she'd missed what 'he' was saying. This second illusion. Ozai was leering and Zuzu was blathering on about, what? Peace and love? She bit her lip and stared at Ozai. He looked like everything she'd feared.

"--I burned her, even though she just wanted to talk. Because you do that sometimes."

"I know," Azula said, quietly, and she allowed her voice to grow rougher, harder. "Toph told me that story." She was guessing at the conversation, but she was sure she was guessing right because there was a hitch in his voice. "She's told me all sorts of stories, especially the funny ones."

"And you listen to her? Let an pathetic Earthbender--" Ozai began.

"And you enjoy that? Hearing her talk about things?" Zuko asked, baffled, his own voice lilting upward as if he was telling a lie.

"She is an excellent Bender. Either the second or third greatest bender in the world. Certainly within the top four," Azula said with a laugh, looking at Ozai.

Ozai was no longer a bender. No longer in competition with anyone at all, and Azula was free.

"Who is the greatest? You?"

"Yes, dear Zuzu. And then either the Avatar or Toph, depending on how you define a great bender. And then that Waterbending peasant you brought along to our fight. You might be in the top thousand, if you tried hard enough, Zuzu."

That was a lie. He was probably in the top hundred, though only because standards had slipped so much and no doubt were slipping even more now that the war didn't exist to keep benders sharp.

"Really, the same insults," Zuzu said, "I don't think being a great bender is the only thing that matters--"

"Pathetic," Ozai said, and Azula couldn't help but laugh, because at last they agreed. If one wasn't striving to be a better bender, what else was there? Bending was not just a hobby, or a means of attack or triumph, it was the breath itself, it was the fire--the metaphorical fire this time--in one's veins that kept one moving. It was everything, and she'd learned early on how pathetic other little girls were. She showed them cool tricks, things that should have impressed them and made them her friends, and they'd run away screaming and saying she was bullying them.

So she'd learned they weren't worth knowing and started bullying them, because Ozai was amused at her fire, at her ability to care about something other than ribbons and bows and friendship. She hadn't wanted it anyways!

"Some third-rate bender--"

Azula lashed out, "Isn't it? Do you even know what Toph's doing, or are you…" she trailed off, and she couldn't help it. She couldn't touch Father. She knew it'd make him disappear, as she couldn't make the illusion of Zuko disappear. But she couldn't do it. So her fist reeled back and slammed into the metal door.

The pain was overwhelming, her hand hurt in a way that made her fear for a moment she'd broken a knuckle even though she knew how to throw a good punch, had learned just in case as she'd learned how to use a sword. Zuko leapt and let out an absurd, silly sound of protest.

"Are you so stupid you don't even see it? She's trying to figure out how to integrate Firebending tricks or Waterbending tricks into Earthbending, like that stupid fat Uncle's 'lightning redirection' but an entire fighting style," Azula said, and she could not help it, because when she turned to confront Ozai, he was gone.

The pain was worth it, just to be able to talk to only one illusion at a time.

"Not everyone's about bending? Spoken like a second-rate bender with a third-rate training ethic. If you weren't so incompetent a sparring partner she never would have been bored enough to talk to me, so I suppose that your loss is my gain. Consider the kinds of… consider." She trailed off, unable to put it to words.

She'd had a dream, a few nights ago, and this time not of her death. The dream was: what if she could close her eyes and navigate by heat, sensing both flames and the heat of bodies and using it to build before her 'not eyes' a picture? If Earthbending could do what it did with Toph, miracles upon miracles, then what would it be to do different miracles with Firebending?

For a moment, for a moment, Firebending had felt imperfect in the only way that felt anything like a failure: like it was something that could become more perfect.

The pain of the punch meant she had briefly gotten tears stuck in her eyes from the agony and nothing else, but as she panted, she said, "Just consider it. Just… just for once, Zuko."

Just for once, what? She didn't even know. There were so many things she could be saying, and she didn't know which one of them she meant. Her lip was bleeding, and her voice was gross as if she had a cold. "Think about it, try to imagine try to…"

She swallowed, and realized.

This wasn't real, and she was going to die, and she couldn't hope, not right then, for anything else. "Leave." She almost said please, how pathetic. "I'm… I'm done talking to you." She closed her eyes and let herself lean against and then slid down the wall, a little bit at a time, and behind her eyes she had so many things she saw and for a moment it felt as if she'd been having a different conversation than she actually was.

There was no shudder, when she knew that Zuko would slam the door in anger after… all of that, and so she knew now for sure that none of it was real. She took a deep breath, and held up a hand, and summoned fire and thought that surely she could use Lightning if she wanted to, surely she had not lost that control.

Surely she was not as weak as she felt right then.

She breathed in. She breathed out. Azula would get out of this. She would survive. She would not allow anything to stop her.

Never.

---

Zuko settled slowly onto the chair the guards had pulled out for him, and sank his head into his hands for a moment. He didn't know what to think of that honesty. Could he let her go, when she admitted she was going to kill him? Could he tolerate her death when she… when she expressed that she didn't want to do it? Because wasn't it the same for him? That he was playing a game where one of the results was…

A game.

A game.

He didn't shout, but it was a close one, because he hated that he could even think about it as 'a game.'

"Sire," one of the guards said. He should know the man's name. But right now his head was entirely blank. "The Lady Beifong is coming."

He'd… not told his guards to help him avoid her, but did tell them to tell him if she was coming. Mostly because he'd wanted a chance to figure out how to make it right. But now, while he could barely think, wasn't the time. He rose, trying not to feel like he was fleeing, and fled.

---

VM AN: Azula's understanding of the best benders in the world is not entirely accurate, I'm sure you will be surprised to hear. That's the most important thing about this update, right?

TL AN: Azula's facing a two-on-one assault from two phantoms, and yet she does seem to conduct herself decently enough, all things considered.

 

[The Laurent]

Chapter 32: Water

"Water is the element of change. The people of the Water Tribes are capable of adapting to many things. They have a sense of community and love that holds them together through anything."

***​

What the Fire Lord wanted, the Fire Lord got. And sometimes what the Fire Lord wanted and what the Earthbender Sifu wanted were the same thing. He had no idea how she'd done it, but he was going to be in charge of the first major trip of the Cheerful Dragon. It was an absurd name, but what did Captain Yoichi of the Hirata family know?

Yoichi was nearing forty, and this was an ideal post to slip into, after over two decades at sea in the mercantile fleets of the Fire Nation. He'd been involved in the war effort, but only indirectly, not that old seadogs hadn't told stories about how common Water Tribe pirates had been. In the last years of the war they'd grown more common, but most of the pirates anyone had to fear were Firebenders lately.

But the war was over now, and it was a good landing to stick, becoming the Captain of the Fire Lord's personal ship. He would hardly be using it that much, everyone said that for real crises he'd probably be flying on the crazy Sky Bison that the Avatar owned. But it was still a prestigious position, and he worked to make sure that the entire ship was in perfect condition at any time for the Fire Lord's use. It was a beautiful ship, all things considered. The Cheerful Dragon was a decently sized but not outrageously big steamer, one that was not equipped for a crew of hundreds, but was solid enough to weather the worst storms as long as it was headed away rather than into them.

His crew consisted of himself and fifty other sailors, plus of course a number of other officers to oversee the matter, most of them wet behind the ears and attempting to prove themselves through this service in the hopes of some larger appointment later. The Fire Lord had made plenty of enemies when he'd put together his crew, since there were now quite a few military naval captains without a ship or without a posting. The downsizing had not been as dramatic as many feared, but the Fire Nation navy was smaller than it'd been in decades. It was still the largest in the world by far… but he was pretty sure that was going to change, if things ever settled down.

So, the way things were going, Yoichi would die before that happened. But he was just a cynical old salt, so of course he'd think like that. It didn't mean nothing, in the end.

But somehow Toph Beifong had convinced the Fire Lord to let her take the whole ship out for a few days for… something?

He thought he got it, stroking his chin in his cabin and staring at a bulkhead. It had to be that it was a thaw. It wasn't much of one, but Toph barely talked to the Fire Lord at all after the blow-up with the Avatar, so clearly her asking for something he could give her must be encouraging. Well, he knew how that was. If his wife was angry at him he'd be similarly willing to do anything, and while it wasn't quite the same--he was dating that Mai character--he supposed there was probably a similar thing among friends.

It was a bright and clear day, when they prepared to set out. The hands were all bustling around, and the smell of the sea air was intoxicating. Oh, to be out at sea again. They were loading the coal in, and that was dirty, difficult business that he was glad he could merely oversee. The docks here were mostly empty, but he looked down at the wood of the dock and wondered whether they should have switched to the newer metal dockyard. The skies were clear, and visibility was good, but he was well aware that wood was one of the greater weaknesses of the Earthbender.

No doubt anyone trying to hurt the Earthbender would do it in a moment like that. It's why Zuko had insisted that she take a complement of his guards, so that she'd have some security. But he wondered whether it'd really be needed.

By which he meant that when he turned he saw her marching with no confusion down the boardwalk aiming right at the ship. Lady Beifong was a young but growing girl, probably about at the age where nothing fit for three weeks at a time. He had a daughter just a year or two older than her, and said daughter would never go to war now because of what the Fire Lord had done.

But Toph Beifong had gone to war, she'd fought through it in her own way, and here she was on the other side, feuding with Zuko. He had a brother who hadn't lived that long, and a mother who'd been away at war so often that it was lucky enough that he had a brother. She'd been a soldier, and he'd made sure to be far away from any battlefield for a reason.

He carried a sword, just in case, but he barely knew how to use it.

"Yo, where's the Captain?" Toph asked, because she'd honed right in on the… coal.

On the coal. Which was from the earth. Oh.

"I can see all the swords and stuff, and figure that bit out," Toph said. The girl's voice was high pitched and oddly commanding for someone so short, dark hair messy and eyes blank and unseeing even as her tone said that there was nothing worth seeing in the first place! She had bare feet, which he worried about. There were plenty of ways that splinters could ruin someone's day, even if their feet looked like they were made of boiled leather. She wasn't his daughter, and even here out of her element she could probably defeat the whole crew.

But he still worried despite all that.

"I'm here, Lady Beifong," he said, with perfect politeness that got an eye roll from her. She really was a teenager, he thought, fondness and frustration mixing as she turned to face him. "Is there anything you need with the coal?"

"I was kinda wondering why some of the coal is different from other coal?" she asked.

Wait, what?

"Different how?" he asked, approaching her. Her clothing was a little bit dirty, but more in the sense of a bit of dirt and dust on it, and she looked up in his general direction as he considered it.

"The… structure of it is different?"

"It shouldn't be," he said, and then frowned. "We were supposed to get the highest grade of coal, because this is not something you stint on." He frowned and leaned down and looked over it carefully, and saw with disgust that this hadn't been done at all. Most of it was good coal, but someone had mixed in a little coal of slightly lower quality, as if nobody would notice.

"So, which kinda coal's the one you want?" Toph asked, and then she reached up and picked out a piece of coal. "This one? Or that one?" The high-ranking noblewoman and Avatar Sifu was now holding the two pieces of coal out and shoving them right in his face.

"The… one on the right," he said, frowning.

"Oh, okay. Lemme." She frowned, and for a minute nothing happened as she squeezed the coal. Then she looked up and said, "And done!"

Captain Yoichi considered his life choices for a moment, but knew better than to say that. "Done with… what?"

"Oh, turning the bad coal into good coal. It was actually kinda tricky. If I hadn't been doing all that work with steel, wouldn'ta figure it out," she said. "But I think I have it."

"You can… transform coal by holding it? Can you make diamonds?" Yoichi asked helplessly and baffled as he tried to grasp this.

"I dunno, I could try to figure it out but why would I? Money's sorta stupid, and I've got plenty, and I'm pretty sure there's something about… scarcity or something? But maybe I'll try that, thanks!" Toph said. "It'd be a fun trick to figure out."

A… a what? He looked at her in something between awe and horror, because he was pretty sure she could contribute to the crashing of the world economy or something like it just by teaching people half of the things she apparently thought she could trivially do. He wasn't sure how many of them she could actually do but a part of him was sure that she wasn't lying about having done something to the coal. Whether it worked or not, it was a lot of confidence for someone who was now going through all the bits of coal despite how dirty it got her hands. She didn't care, and why should she, except that he thought it a little bit uncouth? But ah well, some of his best sailors were women, sure enough.

"Ah! Toph, really?" a voice called, and then at the end of the dock was a harried looking young woman, her hair a mess as she carried some bags. "Please don't wipe it on your clothes or… something."

"I can imagine, Kiyi," Toph said dismissively, and then wiped her hands on the clothes of a sailor right next to her. He was a coal-loader, so it was a pretty futile gesture, getting only a little bit of the coal off of her hands and mostly just smearing it around. He tried not to laugh, and he succeeded, but he could tell she noticed that something was up.

"I'm the one that has to clean up after you," Kiyi said, in the kind of tone that could get a servant beaten in the old days.

Instead it just made Toph laugh, and seem for a moment fourteen in every respect. "Yeah, yeah. Oh, I told Zuzu I was bringing a servant along, you have a cabin for her, right?"

"Yes, I do," he said, considering it for a moment. "I don't know what you want to see, so our itinerary is rather open…"

"Oh yeah, I have an Earthbending move I wanna practice, but now I kinda wanna know how these ships even work, since apparently I've figured out something weird with the coal, if your heartbeat's any indication."

Ah… okay. Okay. This was going to be an experience and a half. But he wrangled his daughter, and Toph couldn't be more than five to ten times harder to wrangle. Hopefully. He sighed and said, "That's one word for it. How do you do it?"

"You just… Do you bend?" Toph asked.

"Some. Not very well," he said, though the truth he realized all at once as he looked out toward the horizon is that there hadn't been any point in bending too well, because that got you drafted.

"Well, it's about feeling how they're different. You gotta be able to tell the difference between things when you're seeing with your feet, so this is just doing that but with my hands. The exact details matter," Toph said with a snort of contempt for clumsy benders, one that he was used to. All the powerful benders he'd known had felt anger at weak benders… but all of the very most powerful benders he'd met had held even more contempt for those who were not skilled.

Raw power wasn't the only thing… though it was one of the big things.

"You're very serious about bending," Yoichi declared, "And--"

"You cannot even imagine," the servant muttered, almost under her breath.

"So I'll… if you want you can talk to my men in the engine rooms, talk about coal, figure out if it works." It was the only generous thing to do, though if he knew what it'd lead to, he would have thrown his hands up and just made her Captain of the ship.

As it was, she gave a sunny, surprisingly pleasant smile and said, "Great! I just have a few questions."

---

"So how exactly are you supposed to hold this stupid wheel?" Toph asked, as she yanked around the steering wheel, thankfully to no effect because they were still getting settled in.

"Well, it's about how you position your hands. You need to hold them like… this." He moved her aside with a frown and planted his feet hard on the steel flooring and then placed them on the wheel. "The degree you turn it helps guide the degree you turn, and so you don't want big, dramatic turns. They'll not do well with those."

"Right, right, they'd get all caught up? How does the wheel do that?"

"Oh, it's connected to a mechanical system that helps turn the rudders and the ship," he said.

"Huh, I wonder whether I could just make it move like that?" Toph asked, and Yoichi felt as if he was going to scream, because if the ship accidentally got ruined by Toph Beifong, he was pretty sure that it wouldn't be her who would take all the blame.

"Please, don't," he said faintly, but for the rest of the several day trip she was muttering about it, trying to figure out how it worked mostly because she saw it as a "metalbending challenge."

So, that was her before they went out to sea.

---

The weather was fair enough, truly they were in a good time of year. It was on days like this that it seemed like summer would never end, that the violent gusts of Spring, having died away, would never give way to the cold squalls of Autumn, and that Winter would never wrap its bony fingers around the throat of the world. Once, in days so olden his father would not remember them, the weather had mattered even more than that, sailing ships so common as to be the standard and anything else an exception at best.

Even so, the weather was the mistress of every sailor in the merchant marine, and profit their cruel master, and between the two of them it was said that any Captain, good or otherwise, was a henpecked husband who could never please everyone involved. Of course, there'd been plenty of women Captains, but sayings did not always reflect reality. But the reality now was something simpler and smoother, that the skies themselves seemed to be cooperating, and that the sunrises and sunsets alike bid to be so beautiful that were she a very different passenger, Yoichi would have induced her to wake early to watch the sunrise.

She did so anyway, marching about tracking coal dust the whole time, in a truly strange mood. She demanded answers about every aspect of sailing, and yet was also grinning and joking around, boisterous and hard to hate, and the Captain didn't want to but considering the arrogance and pride she wore as constantly as her layer of dirt, it seemed as if it would be easy.

It was all an experience, and this feeling that she was an experience, like a great storm you just navigated your way through, was certainly not helped but when he finally got the courage to ask why she was even here.

"Y'know, I bet y'all--" and her Earth KIngdom accent seemed almost exaggerated the more she tried. "Don't know any Kyoshi Stories, do you? Everyone told those all the time long after we gave up any hope of the Avatar. Even I heard a buncha them, but I guess you wouldn't. And 'cause of the whole going evil thing, you wouldn't be telling Roku stories or whatever." She snorted and said, "Not that Roku was half of what Kyoshi was."

He had no desire to defend Roku, except now people were talking as if the Fire Nation should have always valued Roku more than Sozin. So maybe there would be Roku Stories, eventually? The captain considered this and said, "No, we didn't hear those."

"Well, the way I heard it, for a while people thought someone else was the Avatar? Kyoshi was a servant on what became Kyoshi Island, and they'd missed her or whatever," Toph said with a wave of her hands. "She went along with the person everyone thought was the Avatar to meet with the Fifth Nation, these pirates--"

Ah. He thought he might vaguely remember the story. Because of course, people like him hated pirates. Pirates were scum of the earth and the fact that the Fire Nation used pirates had been something even the greatest patriots had frowned about. He leaned up against the side of the railing, glancing over at the girl standing there, looking at him.

"They attacked, and Kyoshi pulled up the earth from the seafloor itself to fight them," Toph said, voice filled with awe and wonder.

Yoichi stopped, horror and shock and a thousand other emotions clashing in him. "What? How? Is this the Avatar state?"

"According to the stories, no. She was just the most powerful Earthbender of her era. Maybe any era, honestly? She didn't get precision right away, but… that trick, I'm sure I could do it."

That… trick? What trick?

"What… trick?"

"I'm talkin' about raising up the seafloor all the way to the surface like she did!" Toph said. "Gonna try to figure that out. Seems like it'd be very cool, and maybe it'd help me understand water if I could just feel that there's earth beneath it, like the bottom of a meat pie."

"Really?" he asked, aware that if she did actually raise the seafloor that would… what? Could she just make new islands whenever she wanted? Could she raise mountains?! Surely it was impossible for anyone, even a prodigy like her, to be able to do something like that… let alone consistently.

---

But she was certainly going to try, and between trying she asked everyone about everything. How to stoke a boiler, how to haul things in, whether there were any places water could get in, on and on she asked about everything and tried everything despite being blind, running around barefoot through the ship as if she owned it and causing a hassle everywhere. She was energetic, and the kind of cheerful that sometimes gave away to moments of intense frustration or… something else. He wasn't sure what but he had his instincts, and they said that this girl was like a storm on the horizon, that there were clouds gathering and… and what?

He had no idea.

He kept mostly out of her way, though it was hard when she spent hours at a time laying on a part of the deck, eyes staring up into nothing as she tried something. Then she'd leap up, go through a few bending moves that didn't seem to do anything, and then lay down again.

It was early on the third day, with only one more full day before they came back around, that he finally approached her and said, "So, Toph, how is the… trick going?"

"I can feel it," Toph said, slowly, uncertainly. It was not an emotion she'd shown much of. "A little bit, if I don't move. If I don't think. If there's nothing but me and the element. And even then, I don't know if I could do anything with it." She shook her head. "That's not good enough. Three whole days working on this, and other things, and this is it?"

He had to keep from laughing.

"What?" she asked, as if she could feel his mirth.

"People spend months trying to get good at something. If it's possible, I'm sure you'll get it… and if it's not, it's not like you'd ever need it. Like, what's it being used for?"

Toph sounded confused. "Used for?"

"The thing you're doing with the coal, that could literally transform the lives of ten thousand people, a hundred thousand, a million," Captain Yoichi said. "For better or worse. Especially if other people figured it out because then it becomes a trend."

"What?" Toph asked, baffled.

"Isn't that supposed to be a bad thing, treating bending as only a weapon? Why wouldn't the non-weapon stuff be more important? I suppose…" he tried to think about it. "If you could raise land like that you could build an island to live on, but do you want to live on a little island in the sea?"

"It's Earthbending," Toph said, as if that was the solution, a little desperately. He realized that she just assumed she'd be good at everything relating to bending and if it was related to bending she wanted to learn and master it… and if so, she'd blame herself for any failures and redouble her efforts until she got it right.

And… and she was an absurd bender even at fourteen, which meant that she very rarely failed.

"Yes, and that metalbending stuff you can do… I've heard you've almost been able to make a sword, something like that? Imagine if you could do all the shaping that a forge did, just by touching something. You'd put blacksmiths out of business in the Earth Kingdom if it could be taught and easier than blacksmithing." A lot of ifs, but he'd been thinking about it, considering how much the entire industry that put coal into burners would be changed if their composition could just be… transformed?

He didn't know, and he didn't know if he liked it. But things were always changing, and Toph seemed to be thinking about it, grumpily.

"Huh," Toph said. "Still gonna try to raise the lands from the seas. Because I'm Toph--"

"Beifong," the Captain said, "I've heard it said that you're the greatest living Earthbender, besides the King of Omashu."

"Just Toph, and I'm definitely better than him," Toph said, perking up. "Oh, tell me more about the ship, I guess?" she demanded, clearly giving up for now on the "trick" despite her words.

Captain Yoichi decided he might as well, and the next day or so went smoothly enough.

VM AN: Boat trip! It's fun to get a look at some of the people in the Fire Nation who are further from the Royal Court and like, decision-making?

TL AN: Kyoshi is absurd, really. Also, coal, go figure!

 

[veteranMortal]

Chapter 33: Grounding/Foundations

Kiyi couldn't believe she was doing this. Lady Toph Beifong was a noble she was sworn to serve. Whether she was sad or not was beyond Kiyi's duties! Getting involved was not any part of her plans for herself.

But Toph had been down for weeks now - she'd perked up briefly after her boat trip, but by the end of that week, she was back in her malaise, and Kiyi couldn't say she liked it.

It took a week or so more, but as Kiyi ensured the last of their supplies were stuffed into her pack, she nodded decisively to herself. What Toph needed was a proper trip away, to clear her head. It could hardly be a shock to anyone that she hadn't been able to properly clear her head on a boat trip of all things; it might've helped her a little, but Kiyi can't imagine its peaceful enough; everything is scheduled and regimented, there's no time to sit and enjoy the silence, but there's also not enough for Toph to have done there as a passenger. No, what Toph needs is to get out into the wilderness - it always calms Kiyi down, and Toph used to camp with the Avatar before Sozin's Comet, so she must have some experience with it, and get some joy from it.

She had asked Toph with a little trepidation, in all honesty; they were friendly enough, but it was never wise to forget the difference between Kiyi, palace maidservant of no especial renown, and Lady Toph Beifong, daughter of a wealthy Earth Kingdom family, sifu to the Avatar and advisor to the Fire Lord - and Toph had fallen out with friends far closer than Kiyi, ultimately just a palace servant she talked to on occasion.

But Toph had only hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and muttered, "Could be fun."

---

Nature was really something. She knew that was a kind of cliched thought. Yet considering how much clear-cutting and destruction had been going on in the last century, it had taken real work to preserve even what forests and parks that they could. Places like this had survived on the back of nobles and high-ranking clans being willing to raise a stink, and talk about how it would help training for survival in the rugged and barbaric Earth Kingdom. All throughout the existence of places like the renamed Azulon Memorial Wild Park were dotted cases of the army stepping in to argue they were similar enough to some region of the Earth Kingdom that they were useful for training, or some noble making some high-handed claims of the need for the Fire Nation to maintain sites of natural beauty indicative of the Fire Nation's inherent supremacy, or similar such nonsense.

There was one park she'd camped in that had been preserved by the simple fact of being Azulon's favourite hunting grounds - the Fire Lady Ilah Memorial Puma-Goat Reserve - but the park Kiyi had chosen for their camping trip had been preserved by its similarity to some of the larger forests of the western Earth Kingdom.

"So," Kiyi said, as they entered the park, passing between a military checkpoint with no one in it and a large flat campground, "How much camping experience do you have?"

"Oh, lots!" Toph said, "We were camping for months, all over the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, so I'm sort of an expert!"

Kiyi nodded politely; Toph seemed happier already, out here away from the capital, like she was lighter, more free, so she wasn't going to ruin it by making Toph dwell on the camping she did with friends she was quarrelling with.

It didn't take too long to leave the detritus of the army behind them as they hike into the woods, trudging along paths marked out with gravel and handrails which quickly turn into paths marked out only where others have forged ahead, and then after a time, paths trod only by forest creatures.

It was about an hour past noon when their walk was disrupted as Toph tripped, letting out a surprised yelp as she tumbled. The sound - Toph tripping at all, honestly - was such a surprise to Kiyi that she almost didn't stop, continuing for a couple of steps before it registered and she turned to look at her.

Toph knelt in the dust, frowning and rubbing at her knee with a stiff embarrassment, glaring in the vaguest direction of a branch that had fallen across the path - Kiyi had stepped over it without a thought.

She had gotten so used to Toph navigating perfectly, she realised, that she had forgotten that her earth-senses had limitations.

"Are you okay?" She asked, covering for her self-recrimination by holding out a hand for Toph to take. "I should've mentioned the branch."

Toph grunted, "Only missed it 'cause I was distracted 'sall."

Kiyi decided discretion was the right response to this claim, as untrue as it was.

"Oh, distracted by what?" She stuck an arm out to help the other girl up.

Toph hesitated, then took the proffered hand.

"Gettin' hungry," Toph said, "Because, uhh, Sokka woulda usually demanded we stop for lunch by now, so I didn't think about it. That makes sense, right?"

Kiyi narrowed her eyes. Toph might be able to tell when other people were lying, but she wasn't good at it herself either.

But whatever had been distracting her, it was definitely not just that she was hungry. If they were closer friends, she might've asked what was really troubling Toph - and then Toph would've refused to tell her, probably - but they weren't especially close friends.

She wasn't silly enough to claim they weren't friends at all - she would need to be emotionally constipated to make a claim like that. Despite her best efforts, she was friends with Toph Beifong, but she was the sort of friend who helps Toph avoid the things she is clearly bothered by, not the sort of friend who forces her to dig into them.

"We can stop for lunch," she said instead, voice bright, "I brought plenty of food!"

Toph stamped her feet, pulling two craggy outcroppings of stone out from the ground, then hopped onto one of them, her legs dangling loosely as she waited expectantly.

Kiyi perched on the other outcropping, passing Toph some Komodo Jerky and a flagon of water. Toph made a face at the jerky, then swigged at the flagon with abandon.

"Don't drink too much of that," Kiyi said, "We only have two flagons full."

"Oh," Toph said, "Sure, but if we run out, we can just refill them?"

"Well," Kiyi replied, "That's true, but we'd have to find a stream for water, then start a fire, boil it, let it cool…"

"Usually Sugar Queen would find a pool or river and…" Toph trailed off, "I guess camping's harder without a waterbender, huh?"

"Right," Kiyi said dryly, "Unfortunately I can't just bend the water into being safe to drink. Honestly, even boiling it wouldn't be enough for some streams, but the water in this park is clean enough."

After finishing lunch - disappointing as Toph clearly found gnawing through the Komodo Jerky, Kiyi couldn't help but notice that the girl ate far more than half of the packet, which left her wondering where she put it all - they set off further into the park, with Kiyi now making more effort to keep an eye on the path ahead as they pick through tree roots, fallen branches and protruding rocks.

After that first mistake, though, Toph didn't have much further trouble - rocks and tree roots she avoided with almost unconscious ease, and she'd just slow down, moving more cautiously, whenever Kiyi murmured "Fallen branch here."

The park was as lovely as Kiyi recalled - it was frankly idyllic, with twittering birdsong, sunlight through gaps in the canopy like shafts of gold, leaves crunching quietly underfoot. If it were to come out at some point that the Generals who preserved it as a vital training resource were just lying as an excuse to maintain their access to a lovely area of woodland, she wouldn't be at all surprised.

The path they were walking was rising inexorably, and before long, Kiyi could hear the blood rushing in her ears as she huffed and puffed, whilst Toph walked stoically on besides her, seemingly none the worse for wear.

"Isn't it nice to be out in nature?" She asked after they'd been walking in silence for the better part of two hours.

"I guess," Toph said, "I've never really done this before?"

Kiyi was silent for a moment as she clambered over a particularly obstructive boulder.

"You've never gone camping? What about with the Avatar?" She asked, turning to offer Toph a hand up.

Toph ignored the offer, climbing up the side of the rock without missing a beat, carving handholds into the rockface almost unconsciously.

"We didn't do this," Toph said, "We'd camp, but it was always just wherever Appa felt like stopping. We only had to hike between the desert and Ba Sing Se, and not for very long."

Kiyi nodded, then flushed, a little embarrassed. "Oh? I suppose I assumed you had some experience! I hope this isn't too much for you, then."

Toph, as expected, scoffed loudly. "A little walk like this could never be too much for Toph Beifong, World's Greatest Earthbender!"

They hopped down from the boulder after that - Kiyi stifled a gasp at the view, the sun over the mountains, the forest stretching out between them and her vantage point.

"Good view?" Toph asked with a surprisingly sardonic twist, "A beautiful vista?"

Kiyi didn't know exactly what to say to that, and she got the impression that Toph wasn't expecting a reply, so she just hummed.

---

Kiyi hadn't realised how badly she had misjudged Toph's camping experience - how much she had expected Toph to have, compared to how much she actually did - until the sun was starting to sink towards the mountains to the west and they were both starting to flag.

"Do you want to set up camp?" Kiyi asked when they came to a halt, sinking onto a tree stump to catch her breath. "Then we can get a fire going, settle in for the night."

"Alright," Toph said, "Here?"

Kiyi laughed, then looked at Toph's face, noted her complete sincerity.

"Wait, really?" She sobered, "No, Toph. We can't have a fire in the middle of dense trees like this, there's no water… Did you camp like this with the Avatar? Just wherever you stopped?"

"Yeah?" Toph said, confused, "I mean, one spot is as good as another, right?"

Kiyi pushed up from her tree stump with a grumble. "I guess I'll be showing you how to find somewhere to pitch a tent then, my Lady."

She walked a little further, conscious of the blister beginning to form on her left ankle, with Toph trailing aimlessly behind her.

It was beginning to visibly get dimmer when she found a good spot; a clearing near a bend in the river, flat and open.

"This is perfect!" Kiyi said with relief, dropping her bags and flopping down next to them. "Give me a moment, then I'll start setting camp."

By the time she had set up her tent, Toph hadn't even begun, instead just lying on her bedroll, pensive.

"Not put your tent up?" Kiyi asked, "I can teach you how to do it, if you'd like? It's a useful skill to have, and-"

Toph snorted, raised her left arm above her head, then brought it down to thump her fist into the ground.

Two slabs of stone erupted from the ground to cover Toph, like a crude stone tent, and she hummed smugly.

"No," Kiyi said automatically, "No, that's cheating."

"What?" Toph asked, sitting up. "What do you mean?"

"You can't just make a tent out of stone. That's cheating." Kiyi said matter-of-factly, "Part of camping is putting up your tent."

"Oh," Toph said dismissively, "Sweetness used to say that too, but I like camping like this."

Kiyi glared at her.

"There's no use frowning," Toph said, "I can't see it. What are we doing for dinner?"

---

Toph was absolutely no help with creating a campfire - she crawled out of her tent when Kiyi started building it up, but made no effort to help, only asked a series of increasingly detailed questions about building fires, keeping them fed, knowing when you could start cooking on them…

Kiyi answered the questions she could, conscious of the places where her own knowledge was purely instinctual, and even moreso the places where she was reliant on vision to make judgements. Explaining how to tell when a fire was down to embers - but not when it had begun to cool too much to be used for cooking, without being able to describe the "look" of the glowing embers was not straightforward.

"Honestly, you should ask a proper forester," Kiyi said at last, "I'm not an expert at all! A talented amateur, at most."

"Don't wanna," Toph said, "I'll be asked stupid questions about why I wanna know."

"Why do you want to know?" Kiyi asked.

"Don't you start," Toph said. "Can't I just want to know something new? Everything's gotta be a thing."

"Oh," Kiyi said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Maybe I want a distraction," Toph continued, "Gonna put me on trial for it, camper?"

Kiyi blinked, taken aback, and Toph deflated.

"Sorry, sorry." Toph grumbled. "I just want to spend some time away from the capital. Everyone looking at me like I might explode, talkin' about my fight with Aang or 'bout the trial."

She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her hand, blinking furiously.

"It's okay," Kiyi said, "If you like tomorrow I can try to teach you how to fish?"

Toph was quiet for a moment, and Kiyi got the uncomfortable impression that she was being studied, as thoroughly as if the other girl was staring at her, unblinking - though, of course, she wasn't.

"Sounds good." Toph said.

They stayed in the park for three days, but Kiyi still felt at the end of it as though her plan had been, ultimately, a failure. The same malaise that'd crept into Toph after her boat trip had started to sneak up on her whilst camping, too, and Kiyi had a nasty feeling that it wasn't going to go anywhere any time soon.

---

TL AN: Remember kids, only you can prevent forest fires.

VM AN: Toph brings a sort of "why can't I just earthbend" energy to the camping trip that other people really don't like.