Fire and Wind: A City in Turmoil

The return trip from the bison was quiet, filled with gentle cooing from the baby strapped to Seng's chest. She glanced down at him, making sure that he was properly secured to her body, and was met with a chubby grin directed right at her.

She smiles softly, “You're having fun, huh? I bet you've never been up this high before. That's one thing we have in common.”

Now that Tom-Tom wasn't in danger, Seng found no issues with enjoying her flight, short as it may be. She closed her eyes, savoring the fresh air and cool wind, allowing herself to truly relax for the first time in years, even if for just a few short minutes.

As she swooped down towards the three girls standing atop the scaffolding, Seng slowed down, angling her body upwards to turn her dive into a mere glide, before setting down just in front of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. The latter of the three ran towards Seng as she stowed her spear and unstrapped Tom-Tom.

“Oh my gosh, he's so cute!” Ty Lee squealed, pulling the baby from the airbender’s hands the moment he was no longer attached to her body.

“Try living with him for more than a week.” Mai said dryly as the acrobat tossed the boy up and down, much to his delight. 

Ty Lee caught Tom-Tom and held him up, squinting at him, “Don't listen to her; she's just a big meanie. I bet you're all sorts of fun to have around!”

“You can keep him if you want. You just have to convince my parents first.” Said Mai, making Ty Lee gasp.

“Deal!” The acrobat made a funny face, causing Tom-Tom to giggle, “You wanna come live with me, Tom-Tom? I bet you'd love the circus. I can teach you how to ride a platypus-bear!”

“He'll make a good snack for the beasts, at the very least.” Azula said, before her gaze slid smoothly over to Seng. The airbender stiffened, finding a spark of anger in those golden eyes, “As for you, I could swear that I expressly forbade you from using your airbending.”

Despite her fear, Seng met the princess’s steely haze with her own, “They were flying on the back of some sort of animal. I couldn't let them get away with the baby.”

“Well congratulations, you got the drooling monster back safe and sound.” Azula's tone was anything but pleasant as she narrowed her eyes at Seng, “And in the process, the Avatar's little group learned that he isn't the last airbender after all.”

“They won't tell anybody.” Seng said, recalling her brief interaction with the Water Tribe siblings. “They're young and optimistic. Even if they thought it would give them an advantage, I don't think they'd rat me out.”

“And what about any of the hundreds of people who live in the city you were so brazenly flying above?” Came Azula's rebuttal. “If word of your existence reaches one of the nearby outposts or  Agni-forbid, Caldera, our contract would be null and void. If you truly wish to be set free at the end of this, then you will keep your abilities hidden.”

Seng was silent at her words and the other two girls exchanged glances. Ty Lee had given Tom-Tom to his sister and the child was curled up in her arms, eyes dropping lazily in preparation for sleep. The day's ordeals must have tuckered him out.

“We should probably get my brother back home.” Mai broke the silence. “There's only so much hysteria my mother can handle. Trust me, I’d know.”

Azula nodded. “Indeed, I'd say we've been out here long enough. I'll send someone to retrieve the Mad King, or whatever might remain of his bindings, but in the meantime…”

The princess extended a hand towards Seng, manicured fingers extended in expectation, “Your spear, Thief. Hand it over.”

“What?” Seng's eyes widened and she took an unconscious step away at the thought of losing her spear again. “No. Why do you want it?”

Azula raised a delicate brow. “I'm obviously not going to allow you to keep a device that allows you to fly away whenever you wish. Do you think I'm a fool?”

Seng didn't say anything but the tightened of her eyes made her stance on the matter clear. She had no intention of handing her spear over now that she had gotten it back.

Azula saw this and her eyes narrowed, and when she spoke next, her voice was a low, solemn warning.

“Hand over your spear. If you don't, then I'll simply take it by force and make you watch as I reduce it to kindling to light my fireplace.”

Knowing that she couldn't beat the princess, much less while she was with her friends, Seng reluctantly pulled her spear from her back and handed it over. Azula's manicured fingers wrapped around the smooth shaft before the princess passed the weapon off to Ty Lee, who took it reluctantly.

“Be careful with it.” Seng said stiffly, earning a nod from the acrobat.

Azula seemed satisfied by her compliance. “Good thief. Now that that is taken care of, let us return to the governor's estate. Our work in this city is far from done.”

Together, with toddler in tow, they made their way through the city back to the estate sitting high above the streets. Once inside, it didn't take long for their presence, as well as Tom-Tom's, to be broadcast throughout the home by whispering servants. As such, it wasn't much of a surprise to find the governor and his wife already waiting for them when they entered the main hall.

Azula took up her place upon the throne just like she did when they first arrived. She didn't have to, but Seng had a feeling it was a deliberate move on her part. A way to show the governor who really had the power here, even in his own home.

The others gathered around her, watching as the governor bowed low in immense gratitude. Nearby, his wife was clutching Tom-Tom to her chest, cooing quietly in the background as her husband expressed enough gratitude for both of them 

“Oh thank you, Princess.” The governor said, sounding on the verge of tears at the return of his son. “I had worried that I would never see Tom-Tom again. We are forever in your debt for what you have done for us.”

“You were already in my debt, governor.” Azula said, watching the man prostrate himself before her with a bored expression. “I will admit, I was expecting a more welcome reception when I stepped into the halls of this fair estate with your wayward son in tow, but instead all I received were tense mutterings and wary gazes. I assume something happened in my absence?”

Her words had an odd effect on the man. He seemed to pause, before swallowing slowly, “You… are very astute, Your Highness. Yes, I'm afraid that tragedy struck while you were away. The rebels took advantage of the distraction provided by your battle with the Avatar and infiltrated an estate along the southern wall, one belonging to the Bujing family. No bodies were found but they left a note.”

“I see.” Azula frowned at the news, sitting up a bit in her gilded chair. “What did this note say?”

“It is the usual drivel of fools who don't understand how war works, Your Highness.” The governor spat. “They’re holding the entire family and even the staff for ransom. They’re demanding that we relinquish Omashu to them under some vague threat of violence.”

Seng suppressed a snort of disbelief. The rebels thought that one family was worth an entire city? There was no way anybody would take that kind of deal, even if they threatened to slaughter the lot of them and put their heads on pikes in the town square. The rebels weren’t stupid, they couldn’t be if they’d managed to last this long. They must’ve had some other goal in mind.

Azula seemed to reach the same conclusion. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she leaned forward, “You said the Bujing family… If my memory serves me correctly, there is a General Shang on my father’s war council. Before I left Caldera, his firstborn requested a leave of absence to visit his family in their new estate here in Omashu. If those rebels have a competent leader among them, then there’s a chance they might know this."

“Which means the ransom is a delaying tactic.” Seng didn’t realize she said the words aloud until the room’s attention turned to her. The governor didn’t seem to understand but Azula was smirking, as if she was pleased that Seng had reached the same conclusion as her.

“A… delaying tactic?” The governor said, confused.

“It’s not exactly a secret that Lin Bujing is the prodigal son of his esteemed father.” Azula explained.  “Though he may not share the man’s proclivity for war, there’s no denying that he has a talent for it. He has sat in on several meetings even though he’s a mere captain so he has a great amount of knowledge of our internal strategies and affairs. If these rebels have taken him captive, then of course the next step is to extract that knowledge by force. They likely never intended for you to actually consider paying the ransom, they just needed to buy themselves some time.”

The ramifications of her statement clearly unsettled the man before her. His throat bobbed as he digested her words, before he spoke in a shaky voice, “What should I do, Your Highness? We don’t have a clue where these rebels are hiding and the city grows more wary by the day!”

“You will do nothing.” Azula examined her manicured fingernails as the governor stared at her, aghast. “This is a threat to national security, after all. And you’re woefully unequipped to handle it.”

She smiled, painted lips twisting in a razor-sharp grin that was in no way pleasant, “This little resistance has gone on for long enough. I’ll be taking things from here.”

~~~

The bedrooms in the estate were just as lavish as Seng imagined they would be, even moreso than Azula’s room on the ship. Decorated with Fire Nation iconography and painted a deep red, they felt almost warm to inhabit even though they were ostensibly the same temperature as the rest of the house.

Sitting on the bed, Seng looked up from the floor at the sounds of soft footsteps padding out of the bathroom. Azula appeared, wrapped in a fine sink nightgown that seemed the very picture of comfort when compared to her previous outfit. She spared Seng a glance before moving to sit at the desk that had been provided to them, working on drying her hair from the shower she had just taken.

Azula’s hand burned a soft blue as she hovered her flames just above her soaked hair, drying it with the heat of her firebending alone. As she worked, her golden eyes stared into the mirror, meeting Seng’s as the airbender held her gaze steadily. There was a moment of tense silence as the two stared at one another, and Seng wondered what was going through the princess’s mind as she eyed her like that.

Luckily for her, Azula’s thoughts weren’t kept secret for long. The princess smirked as she looked away from Seng and returned her attention to her hair. “You did well today, Thief. Though I am reluctant to admit it.” 

Seng blinked, a single brow rising in surprise and suspicion. “Is that so? I was under the impression that you didn't approve of my airbending.”

“I do not.” Azula agreed. “I don’t give out orders just so you can blatantly ignore them, and if you do that again, I'll put you right back in that cell. That being said, your efforts in saving Tom-Tom were commendable so I'll let the issue be, just this once. There is no telling what might have happened if the rebels got their hands on a noble child. They’ve already shown themselves to be little more than savages. I wouldn’t put it past them to harm him in some way once they thought they could get away with it.”

Seng wanted to refute her claims, recalling the words of the Water Tribe girl on the bison, but she didn’t know if they were even truly part of the resistance. They and the Avatar were gone but the rebels were still going strong, and though Seng didn’t know if they were willing to go so far as to harm an innocent child, she knew all about the human race’s endless capacity for cruelty.

Instead of trying to play devil’s advocate, Seng merely gave the princess a dry look. “You’re forgiving me for doing what I was told? How magnanimous of you.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Azula sniffed, before snapping her fingers. Seng rolled her eyes but stood up and walked behind the princess, grabbing an ivory comb from the desk and bringing it to Azula’s hair to get it ready for bed as she had just about every night since they left the ship and its attendants behind. As always, Azula’s hair was extremely soft in her hands and Seng ignored the odd feeling of nostalgia that welled up inside of her as she ran her hands through it. Was her hair ever this soft? She couldn’t remember.

She ran her fingers through the girl’s hair, and then the comb, taking care not to pull on it to cause her unnecessary pain. Silence fell throughout the room as she worked, broken only by the crackles of the burning fireplace nearby. As she fell into a rhythm, Seng let her mind wander freely and like always, it seemed intent on focusing on the girl in front of her.

Despite everything, traveling with Azula wasn't horrible. Seng couldn't believe that she even thought that, but it was the truth. Though the collar around her neck and the constant orders were grating, actual human company somewhat made up for it. And that wasn’t even mentioning the enigma wrapped in a cloak of intrigue that was Azula herself.

Seng's first impressions of the princess were anything but flattering. She saw a cruel noble who was willing to use force and emotions manipulation to get what she wanted. She goaded her brother with false promises of redemption just to get him to willingly come home to face imprisonment and possible execution, and threatened to burn down her friend's livelihood if she didn't join her. Those weren't the actions of someone with a whole lot of empathy to spare.

Except… despite all of that, despite the fact that she'd tricked her brother and uncle and threatened to burn down the circus Ty Lee was so fond of, Azula had shown an odd amount of care for those she considered her people. She could have left Tom-Tom to have them all chase after the Avatar back there, and she seemed genuinely angry that the governor had let so many innocent families get hurt by failing to quell the rebellion within Omashu’s walls. 

Seng recalled their conversation back on the ship before either of them entered into this honor-bound contract. She remembered Azula’s lambasting of the Avatar and her talk of what a leader should be. Did she truly believe all of that, or was she just plying her trade and using that silver tongue of hers to get Seng on her side? Seng wasn’t sure.

Seng stared at Azula in the mirror as if the girl’s face would help her glean some insight into the inner workings of her mind. The princess’s eyes were closed, a calm expression resting gently on her face as Seng worked on her hair, and the sight almost gave the airbender pause. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen the princess without a scowl or at least a smirk on her face but now that she was, one stark realization stuck out in Seng's mine.

Azula was beautiful. Seng had always subconsciously known that in the back of her head, she was a princess, after all, but here it was made abundantly clear. Seng’s eyes were drawn to the girl’s dark lashes that brushed against her pale cheeks, and her high cheekbones that practically screamed aristocracy. She couldn’t see Azula’s eyes, but she knew that the burnished gold would only further compliment her appearance, drawing gazes and turning heads no matter where she went.

Seng was confused by her thoughts and she closed her eyes, trying to banish them to the back of her mind and bury them deep. As she opened her eyes, it was to be met with Azula’s gaze boring into her face from behind the mirror, one dark brow quirked in interest. “Is something the matter? Please tell me you haven’t messed up my hair in some way.”

“No it's… nothing. I was just thinking.” Seng kept her face carefully blank as she ran the brush through Azula’s hair. The princess’s eyes bored into her face through the mirror but after a moment, she thankfully looked away.

“These rebels are bolder than most I’ve read about.” Azula said as Seng fixed her hair. “Assassinations are one thing, but kidnapping a noble family to glean information on Fire Nation logistics… The audacity is almost frightening.”

“They're scared and desperate.” Seng said distractedly as she found a small knot and began working it out. “Those kinds of emotions make people do incredibly stupid things. Like stealing a solid gold hairpin from a princess, for instance.”

Azula smirked at the reminder but the expression didn't last, soon falling into a scowl that luckily, didn't seem to be directed at Seng. “Foolish as they may be, they're still an issue. One I'll have to deal with before we pursue the Avatar.”

“Deal with, huh? I assume that means you have a plan?”

Azula’s answering grin made Seng’s stomach twist with several conflicting emotions that she could hardly make heads or tails of. One thing was for certain though. She wouldn’t want to be a rebel in Omashu right now.