While The Parents Are Away

Chapter 9

From a life as a Princess to this!

Azula was actually happy when she was finally placed in her cell. The Red Lotus members sure were thorough with the firebenders. They checked her for everything! They made her change out of her clothes, remove all jewelry and hair bands. She felt more like she was being robbed than anything else. When they made sure she didn't have anything highly flammable or explosive on her, they shoved her in a metal cell, barefoot and already severely cold.

This all seemed a bit excessive in her opinion, but it's better they fear firebenders than forget about them. She attempted a simple firebending move. No! That tiny flash was not going to be enough.

She sat down on the cold, metal floor and took a meditating pose. She was never good at meditation, but she did often benefit from taking a minute to flip through her memories. She was happy Zari wasn't in here. She really was, but she had to focus on him if she wanted to make the fire burn stronger. Just thinking about the Fire Nation stopped working a long time ago. Not even the resent she had for her parents worked as well. It was her husband who suggested she should always focus on what she was fighting for at that moment. Her drive.

Zari, of course, came to mind first, but for this occasion she tried to call to mind a memory of Zuko. Before. Before he betrayed her. Before she tried to kill him. Just plain old, scarless, clueless Zuzu.

Then she stood up to try again and managed to create a decent fire stream. But Azula had an advantage none of the guards thought about before locking her in there. Her fire was blue. It burned hotter than any other fire. It could even, as she learned over the years, melt metals. So it was enough for her to point her hand towards the door and watch as the metal dripped down instantly.

Well, that was easy...

After showing a few guards what exactly she thought about their accommodations, she found Izumi and freed her too.

"That was faster than I thought." Izumi carefully stepped out into the hallway next to her aunt.

"Since they obviously brought us to the damned Pole, it will take us long to travel back to our island. We have no time to waste."

Izumi nodded in agreement and started walking forward before Azula pulled her back. She realized the girl had blood coming from a cut on her forehead.

"What happened?" Azula moved Izumi's hair away to take a closer look at the wound.

"Nothing. It's fine." the girl said, "The Red Lotus doesn't like royalty and I'm the Crown Princess. I was pushed into a wall..."

"Well, you can be sure we're not leaving here until the person who did this is screaming in pain."

"No... We came here to get my dad. I can handle it."

Right then, a group of guards came running in their direction and Izumi immediately froze in place. Azula found herself fighting them off by herself, and while that wasn't a problem for her, she couldn't have Izumi just standing there like a statue. And to think she was so talented... All that talent wasted because she refused to use her bending to hurt another person.

Then, as the guards just kept coming, Izumi threw a couple of fireballs at them, but mostly kept to dodging while Azula knocked out the men. Nevertheless, it was working and they were making their way across the hallway, but Azula was inevitably becoming tired. The cold was making sure neither of them were at the top of their game.

Izumi just stood there, safe behind Azula and watched as she begun making mistakes, missing opportunities and missing her targets. The infamous princess was just as good as the stories said, even more so, but not even she could do everything alone. Not even Azula could face an army, but you could be damn sure she'd try.