Since Azula had gotten up from the table a while ago, she had been uncomfortable. Not angry, as one might expect, but particularly depressed. Why hadn't Shisui ever noticed her? That was what she thought as she was distracted in her thoughts.
"Shisui is a fool," she said quietly in annoyance, but there was no fuel to fuel her anger beyond that little sentence.
Shisui was reluctant to talk about his now confirmed past life, but perhaps the answer to her attitude lay therein. She never thought that Shisui would be so slow to notice his feelings for her, so something else had to be at play.
Some love from the past? The loneliness of a long and boring old age? Or something darker? It all remained questions and suppositions that led nowhere, just free-falling with nothing to fall back on.
Azula was about to head back to the dining room when she saw someone who made her stop. Lee-Lee, why did she have that bad look on her face? Curious, she approached the girl, who noticed her and greeted her.
"Good morning, Princess Azula. Can you help me with something? I would like to make up the classes I didn't take today, but I don't know how to tell the teacher." Lee-Lee was worried, which made her ask the princess.
Normally, no one at school referred to the three members of the royal family by their birth titles, but she desperately wanted the help Azula could give her by making the teachers feel sorry for her.
"How come you haven't been to class? I saw you in the cafeteria earlier," Azula thought Lee-Lee wanted to play a joke on her, but she narrowed her golden eyes as she noticed the growing fear in Lee-Lee, the girl turned pale in a few seconds.
"I-I didn't go to class today, I overslept and..." there was no need for more, both girls were smart enough to see the problem at this point.
If Azula's demonstration had been the immature act of a teenage girl, it was no longer. Her face twisted into an angry grimace as she tried to control herself.
Azula looked at Lee-Lee, and for a moment, the girl was afraid of Azula. She had been a bit bold in her intentions with Shisui before because he wasn't technically married. But seeing Azula's eyes at that moment, she understood something of the utmost importance.
Azula was on another level. Then, as if something inside her reacted, her body tensed as she looked straight at the school buildings, then her gaze turned to Azula, but she looked only at the ground, and with respect in her voice, she spoke.
"Princess Azula, I will call the proper authorities, please don't put yourself in danger," the girl said before quickly running off to give the warning, while Azula stood still, clenching her fists tightly.
"I know a person or persons have been protecting me all along... don't mess with me," Azula said calmly, or at least she seemed to be.
Her face was icy, but her emotions burned with anger as she remembered the place where Shisui should be now. At this point, she thanked the boy very much for talking about Chi that day.
Azula's understanding of Chi meant that she used it exclusively to empower herself, be it her body or her fire. Flames erupted from the princess' feet and propelled her high into the air.
The wind blew through her long hair, and with each kick into the void, a flare propelled her into the air and forward. Mastering this kind of acrobatics was difficult at first, but aside from Petra, she was the most physically fit.
In the end, Azula's best weapon was always herself. As she walked away, three blurry figures appeared beside her, their features covered by black clothing except for their eyes, which were all gold.
"The princess is in danger, someone has planned an ambush against Shisui and his lack of guards has prevented us from knowing the news until now," one of them said in a female voice, but another figure quickly answered her.
"He is a Sage, he does not need guards, but perhaps he will be overpowered by his enemies. The princess is still fragile, she may be injured, but..." This figure fell silent and gave way to the last of them.
"The Fire Lord expected this situation, and we already have an order for it. Let the little ones be watered with blood, for growing up under care is not optimal. The princess will no longer be fragile after this," the three figures already knew what they had to do, follow Azula, but not interfere in her fight, it was not necessary.
Shisui may not have needed this baptism of blood, but the royal family did. Azula will emerge different, stronger. The three figures flashed before disappearing, leaving no trace of their presence, but an eagle hurriedly delivered the message to the palace.
"Tell me, Ozai, did you allow those creepy guys to enter our borders?" asked Azulon as he drank a cup of tea, he had found a taste for the drink, though his obsession was not like that of his eldest son.
"You must see how terrible our enemies are, Father. We are not at peace, though it may seem so. This will not end until the Avatar comes directly to us and states his intentions," Ozai said, sitting in his study chair, holding the letter he had just sent.
"The antidote we gave the girl did some good, Azula learned of the possible ambush on Shisui and is on her way to fight. It will be her first bloodshed," Ozai said seriously, though there was a hint of excitement in his voice, pride.
"Oh, then we have a justification to fight, I doubt there will be as much resistance to our campaign as before, after all, they started it, so it won't be strange if we... sweep Ba Sing Se," Azulon spoke with coldness in his tone.
He could be an amusing old man to those close to him, but he was a brutal former Firelord who had even ordered the death of a mother and her general without much remorse, except that the remaining child might be angry with him.
"Iroh will be the general of the attack?" asked Ozai, but Azulon shook his head.
"Iroh has his tea shop, don't bother him with the war, you know how he feels about it. I don't even understand how a pacifist like him became one of our best generals, the things in life," the old man replied before finishing his cup of tea.
"Besides, I want to see what new things Shisui Boy has come up with. Iron balls and gunpowder? What a crazy thing! Hahahahahaha" Azulon burst out laughing because he knew that all the preparations had been made especially for this moment.
The debut of the most deadly thing man could have created since the thought of putting a stick and a sharp stone together: firearms.
"Oh yes, it's Princess Azula," the Dai Li watched calmly as Azula fell from the sky, running a little to slow her speed.
The girl was visibly out of breath, sweat pouring down her cheeks and her hair sticking to her forehead. But her golden eyes remained fixed on Shisui's, ignoring the unknown attacker's comment.
"You're a fool," Azula said after catching her breath and assuming a fighting pose.
"I am," Shisui didn't deny it, he had acted exactly like what he was, a 14-year-old, not that they were very mature at that age.
"But first we have to take care of these guys," Shisui pointed out, and then one of the super-compressed water drops started to expand, alerting their enemies, but they didn't attack, they were curious, or at least the leader of them was.
"Fascinating, really fascinating. Every time you prove something, it makes me want you even more. The Fire Nation doesn't deserve you, you have nothing to keep you here.
The princess? If you like her, we can help you change her temperament to whatever you want, we're good at that. A gentle and patient girl? Rough and wild? Whatever you want, we can also bring you that spawn who calls herself Petra, for people like you a harem is not bad.
We can mold your women to your taste, with no drama, no fights, and no conspiracies, what do you say, you'll have everything you want with us, Sage Shisui! We can achieve something great, something greater than what you could achieve in the Fire Nation!" the Dai Li leader had never given up the idea of bringing Shisui, he just wanted to save himself from the unnecessary fight.
"And that's one of the reasons why I really won't feel guilty if I kill you," the coldness in Shisui's tone was accompanied by the cold air coming out of the ice spear formed in his hand.
All of the decompressed water was compressed into this spear, which took on a bluish hue, with oriental dragon motifs carved into the body of the spear and a length of two meters.
Shisui emitted mist from his mouth, sparks of Chi attached to the weapon dancing around it like little fireflies, but if you looked closely, they danced in a swirling pattern, only he understood why.
"Disgusting," said Azula, who began to feed her inner fire with all her negative emotions, making it burn, but most of all with control.
Years of meditation gave her control over her emotions, so that she didn't get caught up in them, but also didn't depend on them. Along with the negative emotions, she also mixed the positive ones in equal proportions. Protection, care, affection, passion, respect, love.
It was the latter that was the key; being with Shisui at that moment caused that elusive emotion to be used as fuel by Azula for the first time, serving as a catalyst for something far greater than she had expected.
"Then let's see," with a gesture, several of his men made earthbending gestures, together they created a wave on the ground that grew larger and larger, threatening to bury them.
"We only need your mind after all, Shisui," the leader said before he made another gesture and had more of his men pick up large boulders and hurl them violently towards them.
There was nothing behind them but a cliff, it was fight or flight, but for neither of them, it was a problem. Shisui controlled some water to create an icy surface over which he slid deftly, moving out of the ground wave's range of attack and using his spear to shatter several boulders that came his way.
On Azula's side, her normal flames blossomed with an unprecedented color and intensity, blue. She had been able to create this type of flame before, but her control and energy were always inefficient as if something was missing.
She had tried to add certain emotions that would allow her to have this particular flame, but they felt strange and even made her a bit more mentally unstable, even if they were positive emotions, so ironically something was missing to ignite this spark in the right way.
But at the risk of sounding corny, the current flames were more controlled, more stable, and most importantly, they did not shake her mind, on the contrary, it was as if everything had finally fallen into place.
The release of the Blues was like a mental catharsis for Azula, and she even felt that the energy flow in her body was much more refined and stable than before, so she felt no fear of the incoming attacks.
The girl mimicked Shisui's movements, but it was the fire that made her glide deftly along the ground, dodging a ground wave, skimming over it to overcome it, and facing the rocks in the air.
Fire benders were natural acrobats, and in the air, Azula spun her body, sending out whips of blue fire that split the rocks aimed at her in two, and as her body fell, the blue fire concentrated in her fist.
The fist loosely took the shape of a hawk's beak, and with its landing, she struck forward, sending a wave of fire. The wave was led by the vague shape of a bird of prey.
The earthen walls the Dai Li had erected were meant to stop such an attack, but they soon crumbled, leaving no one behind. Azula looked at the group of Dai Li approaching her, half of the dozen, the other six, including the leader, were with Shisui.
A stone hand flew towards her, a tentative attack from the Dai Li, but Azula quickly kicked the ground, creating a column of blue fire that shattered the hand, and then the column turned into a whirlwind that scorched the ground as it flew towards one of the Dai Li.
Another of the Dai Li attacked Azula's melee, fists covered in stone, but Azula defended herself by lifting her leg, her display of elasticity turning into a twist of her body, delivering a fire-drenched kick to her foe, knocking him away from her.
Head first, Azula began to spin on the ground, spraying circles of fire to keep the others from approaching or destroying the projectiles fired at her. Her hands exploded, helping her to her feet, and with a running pose, she launched herself at the enemy who had escaped her tornado of fire.
Thinking it would be a close fight, the Dai Li attacked first to keep the initiative but did not expect Azula to suddenly open her mouth and spit out a small fireball.
It was not enough to hurt him, but it distracted him enough for Azula to get dangerously close. The Dai Li had not expected such martial prowess from an underage girl, and their playful attitude had gotten them into trouble.
Azula's hand clung to the tall earthbender's body, she had to jump to reach him, after all, she was quite small for her 12 years. But that didn't matter now as concentrated fire erupted from her palm, one that went straight through Dai Li's throat.
Azula held the dead body of her enemy to protect herself from the barbs, arrows, and rock hands that came her way. Inevitably, her body was covered in blood, but her face remained serene, with excellent control of her emotions as she finished setting Dai Li's shattered body on fire, much to the horror of his companions.
Azula tossed the flaming body aside, her stomach churning at the thought of the barbecue smell of the flesh, but she felt nothing for killing someone, any emotion that could be a problem was extinguished by the blue flames inside her as fuel.
A little trick she discovered and decided to use, even though the danger of such a technique was high, emotions were the fuel of the fire, but they shouldn't be destroyed by it, what she was doing was particularly bad, but she didn't feel like experiencing the hardships of her first kill, not now.
She would cry in her mother's arms when the battle was over, feeling those emotions as she should. For now... she had to fight her enemies who would now attack her in earnest.
On Shisui's side, after shattering the rocks with his spear, he rushed towards his enemies, creating ice arrows to deflect the enemy projectiles.
His approach was met with a sneer from the Dai Li leader, who stomped hard on the ground and created curved rock spikes in Shisui's direction, trying to limit his movement.
Shisui didn't care about the obstacles in his way, and to the astonishment of the Dai Li, he leaped over the spikes, even directly over the straight ones, all because some chi motes got in his way to prevent damage.
"Get serious or your people will die," Shisui said before looking sideways at how Azula was doing, the girl had yet to score her first kill, but she was doing well in Shisui's eyes.
"Do you think we care? No, I can train more of them with the same level of skill and obedience. If it is necessary to lose some of them to have you, I don't care.
Don't you understand how valuable you are, Shisui? You are an innovation in this stagnant world! Opportunity! Even if it weren't for your lack of other elements, you would be the perfect avatar in my eyes!" the man looked at Shisui obsessively, and Shisui finally understood the madness in this man.
"I see, an idealistic megalomaniac? I had one like that years ago, now he's a good father," Shisui joked, but his eyes focused on the aura of all the Dai Li around him.
They were made from the same mold, or so Shisui could perceive with his gift. Apart from some differences in the aura, all Dai Li except the leader was the same, something that chilled his blood.
It was like seeing identical dolls stacked on the shelf of a hardcore fan, a strange feeling grew in Shisui, something instinctive. The fear of what tried to be like you, but failed.
Shisui first experienced the uncanny valley with humans, and he didn't like the feeling at all. He might not have grown up in a certain freedom-loving country in his first life, but the individuality of each human was something he agreed with.
The Dai Li were something twisted, something downright inhuman, and the determination in Shisui grew when he knew that. To kill them was to free their beings from whatever they had done to these people in Ba Sing Se.
Shisui shot out of the spikes at one of the Dai Li, the one that looked relatively weaker under his special vision. As expected from an earthbender, he created a solid rock wall, but Shisui knew where he was hiding and his spear was no ornament.
With a strong forward lunge, his spear spun as the motes of chi floating around it contributed. Shisui shattered the rock wall, and at the astonished look of the Dai Li, Shisui speared him in the stomach, charging forward as blood and flesh were twisted by his spinning spear.
Stopping his run, Shisui drew his weapon and waved it with one hand, shattering projectiles that flew towards him, his free hand waved gently, creating a dome of water around the head of the suffering Dai Li, and spikes of ice surged inward, staining everything red.
There was silence, Shisui looked calmly at the corpse on the ground, getting used again to the loss of color that accompanied the death of a person at his hands.
Shisui turned and watched as the remaining Dai Li tried to surround him, but then Azula killed another one of them, making the situation subtle. The tension rose as both sides seemed to reevaluate.
Something interrupted the fight, however, as a stone spike rose behind a Dai Li and struck him in the back, his cry of pain drowned out by a silver flash. The Dai Li's head flew up in pain before landing in front of their leader.
"We need to balance things out a bit, don't we? What are you bastards doing in my kingdom?" Zuko's voice was different from before, if the boy was always happy or giggly most of the time, now everything had changed.
Adolescence did its masterful work in his voice, his relatively high-pitched voice became deeper, and his golden eyes looked at each of his enemies and for a moment they felt as if they were standing in front of a sharp sword.
Zuko held the blood-covered weapon in his hand, but a flame erupted from his body, burning the crimson remnants to nothing. The firstborn of the current Fire Lord had just arrived.
No, Zuko the swordsman had just arrived. Along with him appeared Petra, who was a bit pale from assisting in a murder, Ty Lee, who no longer had that smile on her face, and Mai, who was twirling a dagger in her hand.
"Kids, seriously, some kids want to fight us? Pathetic, this is not one of your cheap novels, this is real life. Now you will see the fury of the Dai Li," the leader's calm facade fell off at this moment.
He would show the brats what real suffering was before he broke their minds and had them as puppets at his disposal. He already had an idea of how he would punish these brats, he would make them say "Welcome to Ba Sing Se" for the rest of their lives.