Second Coat of Paint

Chapter 4

To a strict Physics teacher for teaching me the value of hard work...

oooooooooo

Princess Azula was still young enough that she didn't have to deal with many dilemmas. But this one was destroying her. Usually, it was just a matter of counting pros and cons, but when feelings were involved... When you let feelings get involved. It got harder.

She didn't want Miss Omori gone anymore, she was sure of that. She wanted to see her punished even less. If only the woman hadn't said that. If only she didn't go breaking the Fire Lord's rules... If only she just kept her mouth shut like she taught Azula to do sometimes...

Azula couldn't just let it go. The woman insulted everything she held dear: her nation's history, her family's honor, her very sense of self. Fire Lord Sozin, her great grandfather, had always been her favorite. The way he won battles, how he changed the course of Fire Nation history while all his predecessors were useless. She could make peace with what he'd done, after all if the airbags really didn't have an army, then it was the smart thing to do... Ambush was the smart move... She would have done it. Would she? No matter how much she tried to convince herself of that something in the back of her mind whispered.

Weak... Dishonorable... Cowardly...

Everybody knew the airbenders died out because they would not yield to the Fire Lord. They died for their stubbornness and the world was better for it, that was the story. But another thing everybody knew was how Fire Lord Azulon died of natural causes and although she didn't exactly know what killed him, she knew it was not natural.

All of this was proving too much for Azula to handle and when in the middle of a firebending lesson her father yelled out: "Where is your head, Azula?!" She told him everything.

And after getting everything off her chest, she didn't even get a straight answer from him.

"Every Fire Lord does what is best for his people. I do, my father did and his father before him."

A few days later, inevitably, Zyra Omori made her way through the halls of the palace. Azula cut off her way to the throne room. She was panting, but luckily, she made it from her combat training on the other side of the palace in time.

"Princess." The woman bowed. Azula found it incredibly wrong, which was odd since she usually loved people bowing to her.

"You need to listen to me... If you don't want to get punished, you have to apologize to-"

"Azula, I know what-"

"No! We're not in school now, we're in the palace. You're going to listen to me... I told him about what you said in class."

"I know." The woman still had that easy smile while she tried to walk past Azula.

"Then why are you not terrified?" Azula grabbed hold of the teacher's hand, like that could keep her from leaving. "Your family name means nothing to him. He can do with you as he likes."

After hearing that Miss Omori crouched down next to her and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Don't worry, Princess. I can handle myself."

"I'm not worried," Azula rejected disgustedly. "I'm the one that turned you in."

"I'm not scared."

"You should be. My father is the most powerful man in the world," Azula announced and the woman actually shrugged. "Maybe I'll tell him about the detention."

"I had a valid reason every time." Miss Omori stood up and continued walking towards the throne room while Azula followed, silently grumbling to herself.