Fire and Wind: Princess

Having a bit of trouble with Stolen Hearts. This chapter is fighting me every step of the way but it should hopefully be out soon. In the meantime, here's the latest chapter of Fire and Wind!

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Azula's first thought upon being awoken by her chamber door opening was that her guards would need to be punished for such an egregious failing on their part. Her second, was that whoever had managed to scale all the way to her personal chambers completely unseen, was someone that warranted a great amount of caution.

Azula stayed completely still as the door to her chambers closed with a quiet creak, sealing her inside with her trespasser. She kept her breathing steady and her muscles relaxed as footsteps stopped right in front of her bed, all the while subtly preparing in case they attempted to kill her in her ‘sleep.’

Luckily, after only a moment, the intruder moved on. They moved away from her bed, footsteps so light that Azula could barely even hear them over the subtle creaking of the shop.

After a moment of waiting to make sure that the intruder's attention was no longer on her, Azula surreptitiously opened her eyes, pulling her lids apart just enough to get a good look at whoever had dared enter her chambers whilst she slept.

Her eyes locked onto her intruder immediately, standing in front of her dresser, silhouetted by the moonlight drifting in from the nearby window. They female or smaller than the average male, wearing a dark tunic with a hood that obscured their head. A travel pack hung loosely on their back, bestie a bow and a quiver and what seemed to be a hand-crafted spear.

Those were not the weapons of an assassin. A simple thief had managed to get into her personal chambers completely unmolested? Someone would pay for this.

Azula's eyes moved to what had caught the thief's attention, and they widened as she recognized her royal hairpiece. It made sense of course, as it was probably the only thing in the room clearly of value but just the sight of this miscreant’s hands touching the golden ornament made specifically for the heir to the Fire Lord's throne filled Azula with rage. It was time to put an end to this farce.

Slipping silently out of bed, Azula eyed the thief as she pulled her pack off of her back, preparing to shove the princess's most valuable possession inside.

“Sneaking into my chambers while I sleep… Putting your hands on the property of royalty… You must have a death wish.”

The thief froze in place at the sound of her voice, before she whipped her head around to look at her with a horrified gaze. Azula held up a hand and a bright flame burst into existence just above her palm, lighting up the room with her signature blue fire.

The thief looked surprised as Azula's prodigious flames burned in her hand. The princess could understand her surprise and secreteky reveled in it. It was always a treat to personally witness the reaction to her unique firebending. The people in the Fire Nation had long grown used to it and it had since lost its novelty to them. The look of surprise on this girl's face was… refreshing.

“You've made a poor choice tonight, thief…” Azula spoke calmly, making sure the thief understood the full magnitude of what she had done, “Stealing from the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation is a mistake that few live long enough to regret. You will be no different.”

The thief tensed even further, and Azula caught a glimpse of fear on her pale face. Good. It seemed she understood that she had made a mistake.

To further drive the point home, Azula made the fire in her palm grow in size, lighting the room a bright blue. She watched the thief sweat in satisfaction, relishing the borderline terror she was expressing. She had made a grave mistake thinking that she could steal from the Fire Nation without consequence, and Azula would take great pleasure in delivering said consequences upon her

“For intruding upon my personal chambers and daring to steal the royal hairpiece, I'll ensure your end is especially painful.”

Azula waited a single moment to allow her proclamation to sink in before bursting into motion. She pivoted on her heel, pulling one arm back while pushing the other forward in a textbook jab. Her flames burst forth, burning a path towards the thief in a steady stream of fiery death, and Azula smiled at the scream the thief let out at the sight of her firebending.

To her surprise however, that scream did not transform into one of pain as she had expected. Instead, it cut off, and Azula heard an odd sound underneath the roar of her royal flames. The shattering of glass.

Cutting off the torrent of fire, Azula was supremely surprised to see that not only had the thief somehow avoided her fire at such a close range, but that she had also managed to break open the window nearby and… Did she jump out?

Azula was stunned. When her royal battleship was presented to her, the princess had specifically ordered that her chambers be moved to the highest point of the bridge, far above the deck. It was a personal preference and probably one that might spell trouble in the future, but her enjoyment of the fresh air and view far outweighed the dangers of being exposed to possible enemy fire.

That thief had just jumped out of a window that was nearly three stories above the solid iron deck. Either her fear had been more potent than Azula had realized, or she had a plan. Perhaps one that didn't involve her becoming a particularly grotesque stain that her servants would have to clean up.

Knowing that the thief still has the Royal Hairpiece, Azula wasted no time following after her. The princess leapt from her broken window and into the chill night air, ignoring the cold that seeped into her skin through her silk pajamas. As she fell, she held her hands out and blasted fire from her palms and bare feet, controlling and slowing her descent to the point that a simple roll was all she needed to come out of her fall completely unharmed.

The thief was only a few feet away and decidedly not a smear on the deck. She had her back turned to Azula and was running towards the edge of the ship, no doubt trying to get to the ocean so that she could escape.

Azula put a stop to that easily enough. The thief stopped in her tracks as a comet of fire passed right over her shoulder. She looked back at Azula as the princess strolled towards her at a lie surely pace, before the thudding of boots on iron caught both of their attention.

Azula frowned as several soldiers came running over, apparently finally noticing that someone was intruding upon the ship. She looked towards the leader of the group in stark disapproval, “Lieutenant Zhu, how nice of you to finally join us. Would you care to tell me how exactly this miscreant managed to sneak past every last one of your men and make her way into my personal chambers? For your sake, you had better have a good explanation.”

Zhu sweated openly as he came to a stop in front of Azula. He bowed low, “M-My apologies, princess! She must have slipped past us somehow. Maybe she learned of the guard rotation somehow!”

Azula's frown deepened, “Is that so? I didn't realize that my men were so loose-lipped with such important information. Had I been any less aware of my surroundings whilst asleep, this girl could have easily been the death of the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation.”

Zhu paled significantly at her words, “I-I’m very sorry Princess! I'll be sure to tighten security!”

Azula eyed the man, taking in his trembling lips and the way that he was practically shaking in his boots, and found her lip curling in disgust, “No, I don't think you will. This is an unforgivable transgression on your part. I will not have a ranking officer aboard my ship be so sloppy with his work.”

Zhu stiffened in shock, “Wha-”

“You are demoted to Private.” Azula said with a flippant wave of her of her hand, “I'm sure you'll manage to climb your way back up eventually, likely through nepotism, but until then, you will be spending your time taking orders instead of giving them."

Zhu looked horrified by her sentencing, but Azula could find no pity for the man, “But you can't-”

“Can't?” Azula raised an eyebrow at the term, “Would you rather I simply have you tossed overboard for failing to properly secure my chambers? Because I can certainly do that instead.”

Zhu was practically crying now, and Azula's already minimal respect for the man dropped even further. How he had even obtained such a rank in the first place was beyond her, “T-that won't be necessary, P-Princess.”

“I'm sure it wont.” Azula turned to the masked woman eying the sniveling man in disgust, “Lieutenant Leng, congratulations on your promotion. I assume you will not make the same mistakes as your predecessor?”

The former Sergeant stiffened in surprise at the princess's words, but didn't hesitate to give the teenager a sharp salute, “I'll make sure to succeed him in every way, Princess.”

“See that you do, Lieutenant. In the meantime, I believe we still have an unwanted guest to take care of.”

“Understood! Men!” The soldiers made to move forward and capture the thief, but Azula held up a hand, halting them in place before they could grab her.

“No, that won't be necessary.” She called to them, her calm voice heard clearly over the rolling waves below, “I'll handle this personally.”

The thief stared at her warily as she strode forward, staring the girl directly in her eyes, “Form a perimeter and don't think about letting her escape. She has already proven herself rather nimble.”

The men and women in the contingent moved to the edges of the deck, forming a makeshift circle around Azula and her soon-to-be opponent. The thief looked around, realizing that all of her escape routes had been completely cut off by soldiers, before slowly turning back to Azula, looking extremely unsure of herself.

She held out the golden accessory she was clutching in one hand, calling across the deck, “Y-you just want this back, right? If you let me go, you can have it. We don't have to do this.”

There was an undertone of desperation in her offer, and Azula grinned as she heard it.

“Oh, I certainly do want it back, and I will have it. But I'm afraid that your latter assumption is woefully incorrect.” Azula inhaled deeply, focusing her chi, “You invaded my chambers, stole from me, and thought you could simply run away into the night unharmed. That's not how things work.”

Azula rolled up the sleeves of her nightgown, not wanting to accidentally set them alight during what was to come, “Truthfully, I should have you executed for your crimes, but I've been rather bored recently and am in need of entertainment, so I'll make you a deal. You will fight me for the right to live, and if I find you stimulating enough, you will not be harmed.”

“...You'll just let me go?” The thief asked warily. Azula laughed.

“Where did you get that idea? I have no intention of letting you leave here, thief. At least not alive. No, you are fighting for the right to choose whether you become a prisoner, or a corpse.” Azula stared her down like a mongoos-dragon eying their prey, “So, what will you choose?”

The thief stared at her, completely unreadable beneath her hood, before she slowly brought a hand to the strap of her pack, unwinding it from around her body.

It fell to the ground in a heap followed by her bow and then the quiver. Azula felt satisfaction as the girl pulled her spear from her back, gripping it in white-knuckled fingers as she position it in front of her, the sharpened end pointed directly at Azula.

The princess smiled sharply at her decision, “Good choice.”

Without another word, the princess began the battle by throwing a hand forward and shooting a stream of fire towards the thief. The girl dodged to the side and the soldiers behind her let out fearful shouts as the flames soared right above their head. Azula ignored them, throwing another stream towards the thief as the girl ran around the deck’s perimeter.

Unlike her father, Azula preferred the more elegant and precise Sozin style of firebending to the style her namesake had created. While Azulon style was powerful, it lacked the careful precision and control that she had strived all of her life to achieve.

Azula's body moved through the forms like they were second nature, her breathing steady as she ducked low and swept her leg, expelling a sweeping curtain of azure fire at the thief. She dodged it by flipping over it, avoiding the flames with an incredible display of acrobatics that reminded Azula of her childhood friend. That explained how she had gotten to her chambers.

Azula rose and punched the air twice, before twisting and sending a burning lash of flame streaking behind her firebolts towards the airborne thief. It was a basic maneuver and one she had done a million times, yet every once in a while it managed to catch someone off guard.

But not this time. Golden eyes narrowed in interest as the thief twirled her spear, batting both of the fire bolts out of the air before they could do her harm, before twirling her spear fast enough to dissipate the rest of the fire as it reached her. The motion looked easy, like she had done it many times before, and yet once again, she didn't throw any fire back, continuing to approach Azula on foot, likely intent to stick her with that spear.

This girl was no ordinary thief. She carried herself like one certainly, but there was something else about her, a quality that Azula had seen in few people before and one that she often saw in herself. Determination undercut by desperation. A desire for survival that was only outshined by some unseen goal.

It showed in the way her fingers gripped her spear, in the set of her shoulders and the shadow of her gaze as she prepared to take the battle to Azula herself as she realized escape was impossible, and it caused Azula's heart to beat with excitement. She must be confident in her skills to so brazenly charge towards her like that, and Azula would be rude if she didn't at least humor her for a moment.

Inhaling and exhaling sharply, two flaming daggers extended from Azula's clenched fists. She brought them up as the thief got in range, using the back of one hand to bat away a swipe of her spear while moving into the girl's guard to strike with her other one. The thief twisted her spear, placing the shaft in between herself and the princess and deflecting the flaming fist with a sharp thwack that left Azula's wrist stinging.

Smiling despite the pain, Azula stayed on her, her royal instructor’s lessons ringing in her mind. The last thing you wanted to give a spearman was the space to use their weapon. Keep them close and deny them space, press the attack until they fall like the rest.

Azula attacked with a calm ferocity, keeping her breathing even and her fire hot as she and the thief danced across the deck. Just as she suspected, the girl was well-acquainted with that spear and was able to use it much better than even most of Azula's own guards.

“You're a rather good fighter for a thief.” Azula commented as she ducked under the butt of the spear as the thief tried to hit her in the face with it, “It makes me wonder why someone like you would choose such a dishonorable profession. I'm sure any garrison would gladly hire you.”

She didn't expect a response, and so she was surprised when she got one. “I want nothing to do with the war. No amount of silver or gold will change that.”

The voice that came from under the hood was feminine yet slightly gravelly, as if its owner didn't use it often, and that, alongside her statement and equipment, told Azula much about the girl she was fighting.

She was a nomad, a seclusionist, if Azula had to guess. She had heard of their type. People who would rather stay to themselves because of some misdeed in the past that they were running from or simply because they couldn't handle the pressures of society. Most were harmless, though a few could be rather dangerous if provoked.

Though that begged the question, if she was so intent on staying hidden, why steal from a Royal Battleship instead of the dozens of businesses in the city around them?

Storing the question away for later, Azula sighed in mock disappointment, “That's too bad. Soldiers like you are hard to come by these days.”

The thief growled, twirling her weapon with a bit more force, “Bite me.”

“How crass.” As the spear passed her by, Azula grabbed onto the shaft, pulling the thief close and striking her in the stomach with a knee. The girl grunted but didn't relinquish her hold on her weapon, staying staunchly attached to it even as Azula pulled her towards herself.

As they were brought close, Azula got her first good look at the girl, and she was surprised at what she saw. She had been suspecting a rugged appearance alongside the tan skin and green eyes that were most common with most Earth Kingdom citizens. She wouldn't have even been surprised to see the traits of her own people in the girl; they were in the colonies, after all.

Instead, Azula was left slightly baffled at the pale skin and stormy grey eyes of her opponent. She had sharp features, though much less sharp than Azula's own, and soft brown hair that looked oddly taken care of despite the rest of her attire. She didn't look like anyone Azula had seen before, and Azula's intrigue only grew.

The thief grunted, pulling on her spear in an attempt to free it but Azula didn't let go, pulling back just as hard and keeping her locked in place. Panicking, the thief tried to kick her, hoping to wrestle control of her weapon away from the princess, but that was a mistake.

The moment that the thief's foot left the ground, Azula kicked her other one out from under her as well. Now literally without a leg to stand on, the thief began to fall forwards, right into Azula's elbow which she had swung forward in anticipation of her fall.

Reeling backwards at the pain, the thief finally let go of her weapon. Azula took it in her own hands, twisting it around far less expertly than her opponent had, before striking the girl in her stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

The thief cried out and tripped over her own feet, crashing onto the deck. Seizing the opportunity, Azula wasted no time in tossing the spear ass and straddling the girl's chest. Using one arm, she forced her opponent’s hands above her head, keeping them trapped there and restraining her.

The thief struggled underneath her but the position as well as the fact that Azula's full weight was on her chest didn't allow her to do anything but squirm underneath her.

With a smirk, Azula put a flaming hand in front of the thief's face, freezing her in place. “That's enough of that. You provided an adequate morning workout, all things considered, but I'm afraid this is where our fun comes to an end.”

She studied the panting girl underneath her, deliberating on what to do. Though the battle had been short, she would admit it had been quite entertaining. Weeks on the ocean with nothing but her own guards and a few spare soldiers left little in the way of things to do besides train, and this was the first actually stimulating bout she'd had since she fought that idiotic corporal months ago. She wouldn't mind doing it again.

Azula snuffed the flames in her hand, “You know what? I think I'll keep you.” She decided, “You were entertaining enough. I'm sure I could find a use for you somewhere. Perhaps as a personal handmaiden, though I suppose then I'd have to send you back to the capitol for training. I doubt you have the skills required for such a position.”

Azula had no intention of making this girl one of her servants, she was just musing allowed. But the thief's reaction to said musings was… interesting.

The thief's eyes widened at her words, and Azula swore she saw an expression of terror cross the girl's face for a split-second, right before it was replaced with one that was oddly… resigned, “I'm not going to the Fire Nation.”

Azula raised an eyebrow at her tone, “Well that's not your choice to make, is it?”

“Yes… it is.”

The thief inhaled deeply, so deeply in fact, that Azula could quite literally feel her lungs expand underneath her. The princess tensed, wondering if she was planning on screaming for help or something similarly asinine, but what happened next left her stunned with shock.

Looking her square in the eyes, the thief exhaled all of the air she had pulled into her lungs. From her open mouth came a tunnel of wind so powerful that it actually flung the unprepared princess off of her as if she had been launched from a bucking komodo-rhino.

Even as her body automatically righted herself in mid-air with a quick burst of fire so that she would land on her feet instead of her head, Azula's mind lagged far behind as she tried to come to terms with what had just occurred.

Being of royal heritage, it was expected if Azula to know everything pertaining to the previous lords of the Fire Nation and their exploits through the years. Her great grandfather, Sozin, had been one of her favorites to study. He was everything that she hoped to one day be powerful, wise and most importantly, revered and feared throughout all the nations.

And it was all thanks to his crowing achievement, the one thing that had cemented his name in the history books for all time, and even rewarded him a celestial body named after his power, Sozin’s Comet.

Although unfortunately, it seemed that his task wasn't as complete as the stories would have her believe. She would have to consult a thesaurus, because she was led to believe that a genocide included every member of a race or people, not just most of them. Apparently she was wrong.

After all, if he truly had wiped out all of the Air Nomads, then how was one standing in front of her at this very moment?