That night, as darkness fell, the soldiers aboard Azula's ship began to silently disembark. They moved quickly and quietly into the nearby woods, setting up crude checkpoints and barricades on the roads just far enough away to be out of sight from the spa.
Machetes worked tirelessly to hack away patrol paths in the undergrowth, and the driest branches were wrapped in cloth to make makeshift torches and strapped to nearby trees, ready to be lit at a moment's notice.
Sentries armed with horns built temporary lookouts in the trees or dug trenches under bushes, allowing them to see everything around them and signal for backup at a moment's notice. For the residents of the spa there was no sign of the work being done besides the cries of startled wildlife, yet slowly but surely a cage was being built around them.
Azula had to admit, however reluctantly, that Tanya's military formation was a sight to behold. She knew that no soldier they'd brought along would be able to stall Iroh for more than a few seconds, so she made sure that in those few seconds they could call the rest of the army to their location and swarm him with overwhelming numbers.
The main roads were blocked with spiked wooden walls, and the forest floors between her patrol paths laced with all manner of crude yet effective traps. It would take a spirit to slip out of her net.
Which was a problem, because Azula knew her Uncle well enough to tell that he was suspicious of the story she'd brought them. Zuko was hooked, so she reckoned her chances of success were high, but if her deception failed it was imperative that Tanya's cage formation failed too. And that meant that someone needed to make a little hole in it.
"If I was Zuko, and I was trying to flee, where would I go?" Thinking back to their childhood games of hide and seek, Azula's eyes turned to the forest. Zuko always had liked nature, and with only Uncle to keep an eye on would forsake the roads in favour of the cover the trees could offer him.
He'd try to use the shadows to mask his escape. Unfortunately for him, the torches that the soldiers would light as soon as Tanya sent up a flare would rob him of those shadows.
Unless those torches don't work.
Azula paced along the edge of the forest, picturing a hundred scenarios in her head. It was likely that Zuko would run towards the middle area: it was in the exact opposite direction of her warship, and without the shoreline to either of his side's he'd have more options for changing direction later when throwing off pursuers.
Speed would also be the first and foremost concern on his mind, so he'd avoid any areas that looked too heavy with bushes and other heavy flora that might obstruct him. There were three possible routes, all already identified by Tanya and laden with traps.
It'd be too suspicious if the traps on all three routes were mysteriously sabotaged, which meant that she somehow had to deduce which one her brother would take.
After a moment's consideration, Azula realised that such would be impossible. Zuko was just as likely to take any of the routes as the other, and predicting which would be pure guesswork. Yet this did not daunt the princess.
Leaving such matters to chance was the mark of the lazy and stupid, and Azula was neither of these things. If she could not deduce which option Zuko would take, she would simply have to remove his options until one remained.
After a quick look around to check that nobody was watching, Azula approached the central route and pressed a finger to the tree trunk next to it. Black steam began to hiss around it as her superheated finger bubbled and burnt the bark, leaving a small but ugly mark.
The kind only a firebender could leave. Azula then repeated the process on a tree next to the left route, leaving only the right route clean. With signs of firebender presence upon them, Zuko would go for the right route; he wouldn't have time to consider how out of place the marks were.
Azula then walked along the right route, making sure to act as if she were inspecting the traps in case any soldier was watching.
She did not outright sabotage them, for it was important that she make herself complicit as little as possible, but she did make subtle adjustments to make them just a little bit more noticeable for her naive big brother.
Whenever she passed an unlit torch, Azula rubbed dirt into the cloth to make them dimmer and harder to stay lit. Under cover of night it was doubtful that anybody else would notice, and by the time morning came it would be too late to replace them.
"Now to make sure my own plan goes smoothly, so that none of this will be needed in the first place." She thought to herself, slinking off back to her ship.
For all his faults Zuko always had been pretty decent at sneaking around, and with the adjustments she'd made Azula was confident that even he should be able to escape Tanya's cage if the situation ever got that far.
Tomorrow was sure to be a busy day for everyone, and she could sleep soundly tonight knowing that even if she did not win, nobody else would either.
...
Sleep had not come easily to Zuko that night.
Positive and negative emotions warred within him, filling his body with restless energy and his sleep with strange nightmares. On the one hand he was overjoyed: father wanted him home, and all the mistakes he'd made would be forgiven. He would be welcomed back with honour, and the long days of struggle and strife he'd lived within these last years would finally be over.
Yet on the other hand Uncle had expressed his doubts about father's true intentions, and looking back on it now Zuko would admit that he had not handled it the most maturely when Uncle raised those concerns with him.
"I think you are exactly what you seem! A lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother!"
Regret washed over Zuko as his mind recalled the words he'd shouted in the heat of anger. Uncle had not deserved his scorn. While he was certainly a carefree man he was not lazy, and far from mistrustful or shallow. Yet in that moment all Zuko had wanted to do was hurt him.
"And I succeeded."
And now there would never be a chance to apologise. Uncle seemed to want to stay here, leaving Zuko to return to the palace alone.
Soldiers formed lines on either side of the gangplank leading to the deck of the vessel, saluting him crisply as he passed with a respect that his former crew had never shown. Despite his inner conflict, Zuko couldn't help but smile at the feeling of importance it gave him.
"It's finally happening! I'm going home!"
"Wait!"
Zuko turned at the sound of a familiar voice behind him, to find Uncle running up the gangplank behind him. Zuko was worried that something was wrong at first, but grinned as he noticed the backpack Uncle was carrying with him.
"You changed your mind?!" He exclaimed happily.
Uncle shot him a sheepish grin. "Family should stick together, right?"
Yes, they should. And once they were back at the homeland they would. He, Uncle, Azula and Father would stick together from now on.
Azula was waiting for them at the top on the bridge of the ship, a pleased smile curled on her lips. "Brother! Uncle! Welcome! I'm so glad you decided to come." She greeted sweetly.
"Are we ready to depart, Your Highness?" The captain of the ship asked.
Azula nodded. "Set our course for home, captain."
"Home." Zuko barely noticed that he'd let the wistful whisper slip past his lips. Finally. He had his Uncle with him, his honour restored, and his father's love back.
Everything was perfect.
The captain raised his hand to gesture to the crew. "You heard the princess! Raise the anchors! We're taking the prisoners home!"
And just like that, everything froze.
Time seemed to stand completely still. Everyone, from the common soldiers to Azula herself, seemed to tense up, not daring to move a muscle for fear of breaking the sudden heavy atmosphere that had dropped upon them.
Zuko could only stare wide-eyed at the captain, a cold, sinking feeling settling in his gut as his brain struggled to process the word he was sure he'd hear, yet didn't want to believe.
Prisoner?
Beads of sweat broke out across the captain's face as he realised his mistake. He stared back at Zuko, seeming just as taken aback as he was. "Your highness, I-…"
Whatever he was going to say would forever remain a mystery, as the sound of roaring fire and cries of fear shattered the tension.
Uncle had not been willing to wait for them to make the first move and struck first, blasting four nearby soldiers off the gangplank and into the water before they even realised what was happening. The other soldiers burst into action, and the whole ship fell into chaos.
Zuko grabbed hold of the captain with one hand and threw him overboard with a dismissive shove, then snapped back around to glare hatefully at Azula. "You lied to me!" He roared, twin daggers of flame bursting out from his clenched fists.
The corner of Azula's mouth curled up into a smug smirk. "Like I've never done that before."
With an angry snarl Zuko lunged at her, slashing his daggers in an enraged flury. Yet the smirk never left Azula's face as she danced through his attacks with casual ease, deliberately passing up her openings to counterattack in favour of taunting him.
"You know, father blames you for the loss of the North Pole. Tanya told him all about how she'd had everything under control: The Avatar, The Water Tribe Army, even the moon itself, until you betrayed her." She chuckled mockingly.
"Why would he want you home, except to lock you up where you can no longer embarrass him?"
"I was doing the right thing!" Zuko yelled back, redoubling his attempts to land a hit. "She was desecrating the bodies of the dead! Slaughtering enemies who'd given up fighting! Trying to execute a child!"
That caused Azula to laugh. "So what? Do you really think that sort of thing hasn't already happened during the last hundred years of war? Do you think the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes would have hesitated to do the exact same thing if they had the chance?"
"That's no excuse to forget our honour!" Zuko countered.
"Isn't it? I'm not so sure. Perhaps we should get a second opinion?" Azula replied slyly. She raised her voice to a sing-song tone. "Oh admiral!"
A rush of heat and orange light erupted from one of the hatches on the deck, and Zuko's heart stopped as a streak of gold soared into the sky. No! Not her!
...
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