Azula: Redemption

Chapter 13

I looked utterly ridiculous, I thought as I stomped out of the broom closet I had been changing in to avoid going back into that hell room. The clothing I had been giving was not only blue from dress to stockings, but they also smelled of vanilla and cinnamon, a scent I could only assume was Katara's perfume. I hated it.

Swatting my hair back, I quietly open the closet door and peaked my head around both sides to ensure I would not be caught. It would be humiliating! Me, a princess sneaking around and changing in a freezing broom closet. Absolutely not.

Once declaring the hall empty, I finally slipped out of the door and resumed a normal pace towards the front of the house. Seeing both the kitchen on my far left, and the sitting room where the meeting had taken place on my right.

The kitchen was packed with young women, all hurrying around an open fire with what appeared to be a seal on a poker. Some of the women were were rotating the poor beast, while others were adding spices and herbs. I did spot two women who had the unlucky job of disposing of the inwards outside of the city lines, to ensure more dangerous animals would not wander too close for comfort.

I had seen my fair share of gore and blood, so this sight, while not pleasant, wasn't unfamiliar. If I had to help cook or slice the meat for tonight's dinner, I would be more than happy to stay huddled around the warm fire.

I walked into the kitchen, which I noticed had an open hole in the middle, to not smother the flame or the women.

I seen one woman who was instructing others on how to properly rotate the seal and what areas to focus on so that they become tender and not burnt. I had no idea that turning animals into food was so difficult and disgusting. Maybe I should turn into a vegetarian like the avatar, for the first time, I thought he might be right about something.

I interrupted the woman's tangent on the importance of a tender groin, as she called it. "Excuse me, hi yes I'm Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation, is what you may call me. I'm here to help you, I was sent by your magnificent healer Kana." I said the last part in a sarcastic way, hinting at my resentment at the treatment I will be subjected to.

The woman stopped her instructions quickly and firmly and finally turned to face me giving me a view of her beautifully sculpted face. The woman was around my age, I realized, with the strangest colored eyes. A mixture of both light blue and silver, the silver weaving in between them. Her cheekbone were lifted and fit perfectly above her pouty heart shaped lips. Her hair was a dark brow, almost black but not quite. I disliked her immediately.

"Of course Princess, you will however not be working with us, but for us." She took a step towards me, she was either very brave, or very stupid. I was leaning towards the latter when she said "You can begin by fetching buckets of water to fill up the drinking basin. Guests like to have their water on tap. It hasn't been filled in awhile, so that should make a fitting job for you, your majesty." She said the last part with a smirk, bowing low in front of me. I had seen the water basin in the sitting room, it was at least two feet deep, and would take me hours, where a waterbender could have filled it up in a matter of minutes. The minutes spent on the short but freezing walk to the well that was about 1/4 of mile down towards the village center.

I didn't move an inch, nor did my chin lower as I said "Surly you can find a better use for my talent than fetching water." The tightness in my throat was excruciating, I had to play the game. However, patience had never been one of my virtues.

"Unfortunately, this isn't a brothel." She said, lifting her delicate finger and jabbing it hard into my chest bone. "So go get the damn bucket."

Yep. I was absolutely going to kill her. I grabbed the girl by the base of her hair and twisted it tight in my hand as I grounded my feet and slammed her face forward as I kicked her left leg out from under her. I heard the crunch of her nose before I was on top of her, twisting her right arm back, as I held her down with the top of my legs and my left arm holding hers down.

I whispered in her ear "Talk to me like that again, and I don't give a damn about the consequences. I will break your neck." She squirmed and I twisted her arm back even further until she screamed. I simply whispered " Do you understand?" 

The girl didn't take much convincing as she whimpered and nodded. I swiftly moved off of her and onto my feet, facing the other women in the room. They all seemed to make themselves busy, with whatever imaginary task they had conjured up.

The girl finally got off the floor and began sobbing and running down the hall yelling to Kana and to her father, whoever the hell he may be.

I strolled towards the roasting seal and reached past the flames and grabbed a piece of scorching hot meat and placed it in my mouth and chewed. It wasn't as horrendous as I had imagined, it was rich and bold and tasted more of meat from the land than the sea.

The on-lookers gapped as if I were the devil herself, I suppose I was. So I simply continued chewing and took a seat on one of the few chair provided at the counter. I turned it to face the crowd and singled my vision on a rather plain young girl and said " I'll take mint in my water." She scurried off in a quick wave of the hand. The other hand however, the one I reached in the flames, I tucked behind me, blisters forming on my hide in thick, red welts.

I laid my head back and closed eyes, my body still tense, but to others, I was the perfect picture of calm, confident indifference.