Ty Lee watched over her sleeping friend with concern. The series of consecutive bad news and the return to the palace had badly strained Azula's patience, to a point where the princess all but snapped.
She had not been present in the throne room, but seeing her friend fleeing with a small gaggle of courtiers, filled with the blacks and reds of anger and fear, told her enough. That Azula's bodyguards, up until then discreetly omnipresent, were missing, added to the urgency.
Azula seemed at the edge of her wits when Ty Lee caught up with her, wet eyes filled equally with rage, disbelief and sorrow. Yet, she stubbornly fended off the darkness gnawing at the edges of her aura. By sheer spite she remained alert and in control, if only just so.
"Ty Lee. Good. You're here." Her voice cracked, relief tainted by a touch of wariness.
"I'm here to help, Azula," Ty Lee immediately replied, to assuage her and stop the cracks from spreading.
One of the courtiers, a neatly groomed man who was as disheveled as the rest of them, hurriedly interrupted the reunion. "We must go. The princess is being hunted."
Despite how her aura quailed at the mention of being hunted, Azula stubbornly shook her head. "I'm not abandoning my people. The people in the dungeons-"
"We'll get them out, your highness," a woman spoke out, earning nods of support from some men beside her. "Your first priority is to secure an escape, Princess Azula."
"But Su-Wei-"
"I'll get them out," Ty Lee volunteered, earning a grateful look from her friend.
"The palace wing will be heavily guarded," Azula warned.
"I'll get them out," the acrobat repeated more firmly.
Sneaking in had been easy, as was finding Azula's remaining followers. There was some confusion among the guards at what was happening at the throne room, but otherwise they seemed oblivious. Lady Su-Wei and her clique of loyal staff had been surprised at Ty Lee's appearance in the princess' study room, but they quickly fell into cold professionalism when she told them of Azula fleeing the palace.
"The Hatching Phoenix Flees the Swamp," the old woman declared with a hard gaze, and the men and women stiffened with sudden resolve. Then, worryingly, they began to disperse.
Ty Lee didn't know exactly what was happening, but she could make an educated guess. "Azula wants all of you to follow her."
The much older woman gave a resigned sigh. "It does her credit to think about us, but there is much of her work here that cannot fall into wrong hands." The smell of smoke began to waft as a young man firebended a hidden drawer and its contents into ash. Outside, the guards could be yelling something at someone.
Su-Wei fixed Ty Lee with another hard look, this time heavy with sorrow. "Tell the princess that we will do what we can to keep her secrets. And…tell Xing-"
"Nope, no way! You're coming back with me!" Ty Lee vehemently denied, making the other robed men and women pause to stare at her for a moment. The girl drew in a calming breath, and then exhaled audibly before she stared back at Su-Wei. "I'll buy you all the time you need, and then you're coming with me. Azula does not need more tragedy in her life."
Someone spoke up. "But there's more documents in the offices on the other end of the hall!"
Ty Lee recalled her royal friend's aloof confidence and grinned thinly. "Then we'll just have to burn down this whole wing to save us the time."
In hindsight, she could've thought up a better plan. But haste won over prudence, so Ty Lee had shot out to charge the first palace guards in sight, and draw them away from Su-Wei's group.
Or at least that was the intention.
She ended up leaving a trail of twitching, paralyzed bodies as she made her way to the palace wing's main entry, aided surprisingly by several guards who had not only recognized her, but also asserted their true loyalties to their princess. If Ty Lee had to guess, these were guards that Azula had secured positions for as an easy means to earn some merit for their disgraced families. With their help, Ty Lee fought back the growing tide of armored men, slowly ground as more enemies poured in from other entrances.
Avoiding bolts of fire and dancing between the firebenders was too easy for her. Unlike the more hardened fighters in the colonies, these firebending elite instinctively held back when she darted between them, too afraid of accidentally hitting their own. Paralyzing them instead of killing them turned her targets into convenient obstacles against their comrades.
Her allies weren't having it as easy as she was though. For all their unhesitating bravery, the followers of Azula began to fall. Ty Lee could not help all of them, and she was forced to helplessly watch as one by one the valiant men were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Most carried Azula's name on their lips before the flames consumed them. In the end, they were whittled from almost two dozen down to just four men by the time one of Su-Wei's people called out.
A glance back showed that the grand hallway was already getting hazy with smoke, partly from the burning mess caused by the fighting. The rest of it was from the fires belching out of study rooms and offices.
It then was a matter of disengaging from the whole mob to get everyone to safety. Easy.
Ty Lee panted lightly, but gritted her teeth and was prepared to fight her way through, but the flames had weakened a main column which conveniently caved in on the mob. Escaping after that was easy enough. Really.
With the thick smoke all but opaque, Ty Lee led the group of ministry liaisons and surviving fighters out through Azula's room, the last place to be consumed by the flames. They held their breaths as best they could and Ty Lee kept watch on the rapidly heating rooftop as some of the men carried an indignant Su-Wei out the window.
Fortunately, the palace guards had yet to make the whole circuit around the palace's perimeter to get in the way, allowing the escapees an easy escape afterwards. More flames rose from other parts of the palace complex, as well as some buildings around the capital.
If she remembered her landmarks correctly, it looked like the breakout of Azula's detained staff was successful. But that did not explain the other fires throughout the city, like the ones in the administrative district.
"The Hatching Phoenix Flees the Swamp," Lady Su-Wei intoned, noticing Ty Lee's confusion. "Sent out the signal as we were burning the documents. Princess Azula put me in charge of overseeing the security of information in the palace and the colonial ministry. Part of that involves preparing…contingencies."
The woman stared out at the columns of smoke staining the evening skies as they continued to shuffle through alleyways. "We had this planned with the expectation that the more ambitious noble houses would dare to defy the Fire Lord's patience and band together to seize power for themselves… Deny them as much useful information as we could of the colonies, the princess' supporters, and hidden assets. It was what we thought was the worst case scenario, in preparation for Xing taking Ba Sing Se."
She let out a heavy sigh. "Never thought we'd be using it because of the Fire Lord turning on her." Su-Wei then gave Ty Lee a smirk filled with reluctant gratitude. "Never thought I'd survive its execution, either."
"You're welcome," the girl answered with a bright smile that pushed back some of the oppressive grays weighing on everyone.
With the fires inevitably spreading confusion in the city, it soon became easy to slip into the streets among the sea of worried citizens and blend in with the chaos. Sporadic roars of flame sent waves of fear in the populace, like the ripples of a dirty rainbow on a puddle of oil. Ty Lee held back her disgust at the ugly colors playing out and tainting her vision.
They reached the ship with only the panicking city slowing them down, meeting a clearly worried Azula under the shadow of a light cruiser. Some smoking corpses littered the area, almost all members of the city guard.
"About time you made it," she said without meaning the words.
Azula went to greet Lady Su-Wei first, both of them sharing sharp whispers before the older woman finished with a conceding nod and walked up the ship. Then Ty Lee became the focus of her friend's attention, and the girl was treated for the first time to panic showing in her usually calm and collected friend.
"You're bleeding."
"Wha-? Oh, that. It's not mine." Ty Lee gave as bright a smile she could muster to reassure the fraying princess.
With no one else to wait for, they all boarded the ship and made for Zilang. It was only in the privacy of their quarters did Azula finally allow herself to break down.
"I disowned my father… I…I gave up my family… I'm a mon- I'm a monster…"
It broke Ty Lee's heart to see her usually strong and confident friend, the princess who'd made a huge change over the years, shudder with heaving sobs and tear into the bedding with her manicured nails.
Without prompting, Ty Lee reached for and embraced Azula, hoping that her own faith in her sobbing friend would help push away the blackness seeping into the other girl's aura. "Shh… You did the right thing, Azula. You're not a monster. Don't worry, you're not alone… You're loved…"
It felt so wrong to have Azula crying into her shoulders like a child, but Ty Lee ignored the surrealness of the scene and did what she could to calm her down. Eventually, Azula fell asleep, and Ty Lee kept by her bed, cooing soft tunes to ease her into her rest.
Azula had changed so much, and had saved her life. This was the least Ty Lee could do, as a friend. Azula would recover the next day, as if nothing had happened, but her eyes betrayed a deep gratitude for Ty Lee. It was more than enough for the girl to know that she was appreciated so earnestly.
Their journey across the ocean was without incident, and in hindsight, it was to be expected. News couldn't have spread beyond the capital city so quickly, which meant that they passed by clueless patrols without slowing down. That did not mean that the ship slowed, though. Its captain had erred on the side of urgency, hoping to make it to the colonies with enough time for Azula to either establish herself or flee.
His hopes were dashed when lookouts spotted a flotilla racing up from behind them. They were small and incredibly fast things, churning out a far angrier trail of smoke than usual. Against their worst expectations, the speeding boats zipped past the cruiser, and Ty Lee had to look over the rails to get a glimpse of at least six firebenders at the stern of each boat, heating up a boiler with a horizontal chimney that spat a furious tongue of fire.
"The new ship propulsion systems," one of the former officials muttered in awe. "I thought the War Ministry were still figuring out the new 'loud boiler' engines, but it seems that there's enough working prototypes…"
"To serve as message boats," Azula finished with a scowl. "We might find Zilang and the rest of the colonies hostile to us by the time we arrive."
As such, plans were quickly drawn. Detours were suggested, but quickly discarded due to the unknown dangers of docking in Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe territory. Simply parking the ship and sneaking through a quieter coast was also deemed too risky as it left Azula no easy withdrawal if they ran into trouble.
They were still debating over the best course of action when the lookouts brought curious news: Land was sighted, and it was leaking smoke.
As they drew closer, it became apparent that Zilang was not in any shape to receive Azula with any hostility. Even from a distance, Ty Lee could see buildings burning, and small figures spurting flame at each other.
"Well, looks like all is not lost, princess," Su-Wei commented with a smirk.
"So I see."
The sounds of fiery violence began to reach Ty Lee's ears, and it took a while before she could pick out the war cries.
"For the Fire Lord! Kill these treasonous scum!"
"For the princess! Down with the Fire Lord!"
It was heartening to hear more of the latter than the former filling the air, and it gladdened Ty Lee to find that disparity in support was filling Azula with her old, confident reds and yellows again. Just for added effect, Ty Lee grinned at her friend.
"You hear that, Azula? You've got supporters fighting for you!"
An invisible burden lifted off the princess as she stood straighter and nodded with renewed resolve. "Indeed… But it'd be a shame if I lost any more of them to the paltry scum serving my…my father." Everyone ignored the brief stumble in her words, and even Ty Lee felt the buzzing expectation making her stand straighter as Azula turned to address them with all the authority of a defiant and unbowed crown princess.
"I'll be going down there to show them how to conduct a proper fight. If any of you are following, don't you dare shame me by dying to those sniveling cowards."
It was possible that the whole ship shuddered from the cheers as Azula took off with a burst of blue fire. The other firebenders followed after her, many leaping instead of rocketing through the air, carrying her name on their lips as they landed on the beach and immediately began charging into the fray.
Ty Lee and the other non-benders restrained their eagerness right until the ship crashed deep into the docks (conveniently breaking a tight formation of palace soldiers in the process). Some didn't wait for the boarding ramp to drop before they were jumping off the ship's sides. Ty Lee was one of them, finding a convenient landing pad in the form of a couple of soldiers harassing a group of earthbenders.
The fighting that followed was not as chaotic as the one in Ba Sing Se, but the carnage was far, far worse. Pretty much the entirety of the colony was up in arms against the forces from the home islands, the division rather helpfully marked out from the former being in more worn and simple attire and armor, compared to the latter's shiny and more ornamented look.
Firebender and earthbender colonists worked together to corral and then brutally crush the Fire Lord loyalists without a second thought, while their outnumbered enemies struggled to form a proper defense. Even the one-armed Overseer Dae was thick in the fighting, covered in soot and wielding a broadsword to (literally) single-handedly lop off limbs and heads. His nephew, the former governor Hanh, fought with him, his spearwork rather reminiscent of the 11th's own style.
When she had the time to think about it, the colony's guards were pretty much a less refined mirror of the 11th Regiment. They charged right up to firebenders with spears and swords and clubs, forcing their opponents to abort their movements and move out of the way. They also worked in packs, picking apart their foes by isolating them before working through the more heavily armed soldiers at their leisure.
The daring attacks cost several of the colonists their lives, but they seemed more than willing to pay it as they continued beating back the Fire Lord's troops.
And then Azula made her appearance by engulfing a quartet of palace firebenders in her blue flames. Their dying screams were quickly drowned out as the colonists' fury was further stoked.
"Princess Azula! Fight for Princess Azula!"
Azula gave a theatrical sigh. "Fools. Don't just fight for me. Fight for yourselves! Fight for your homes! Fight for Zilang!"
"For Zilang! For the princess!"
That more or less sealed the end for the remaining supporters of the Fire Lord. Ty Lee idly elbowed a pitiful official armed with a decorative blade (the thing was sharpened, but clearly unbalanced and too…blinged up) in the back of his neck before she paused to appreciate the mood. The whole town was radiating an outraged red, swirling with relieved and joyous blues and yellows. It was a far more intense experience than watching Tanto the Knife-Thrower catch his signature 'not-so-broad' sword via sword-swallowing in his final act.
And it was far more stirring as well, obviously.
Ty Lee caught a glimpse of a small mob dragging Governor Seo and his lackeys out into the streets. And then her view was obscured by more colonists swarming the doomed official. There was a lot of earthbending and firebending before they dispersed. Ty Lee couldn't see any signs of the governor or his people after that.
Overseer Dae ignored the pleas of a former colleague and ran the man through with his sword in a swift motion. Just a few paces away, his nephew was hacking away at more robed officials, screaming back the derogatory insults that were probably once tossed at him.
The mood was rather intoxicating, really, and Ty Lee let herself bask in it for now. She can deal with the horrors of such bloody violence later. Maybe ask if Azula can help hold her hair back once the realization really hit her.
The slaughter was over in a matter of minutes, marked by Azula's triumphant flames blasting into the sky.
Dae was the first to drop to his knees before her. "Princess! We thought the worst when those mewling idiots dared declare you a mere criminal to be hunted down and returned to the palace, dead or alive."
Hanh offered up a formal salute as the bloodied men and women of Zilang too knelt before their princess. "Princess Azula. Zilang does not forget its true ruler. What would you have of us?"
For a few precious seconds, Ty Lee spied a spike of uncharacteristic cyan in Azula's aura. She was genuinely touched by the colony's loyalty.
It took a second before Azula formed a reply. "My father…my father will be sending his armies to claim the colonies. We can fight, but that would be a futile thing. Zilang and the other colonies were built to keep earthbenders from entering from land, we are all easy prey for a naval invasion."
Her blunt words threatened the giddiness of the colonists, but the grin that followed kept their hopes up. "So we will not fight. Not yet. Colonial… No, Administrator Dae, Administrator Hanh, organize the people for an evacuation. And prepare the messenger hawks. We will make for the safety of Ba Sing Se."
Lady Su-Wei walked up beside the princess with a snarky grin. "And spirits save anyone who dares get in our way once word reaches the Scorpion."