Catalyst

Chapter 20: Taming the Flame

Azula smiled when she heard the thump of the Avatar's bison landing behind the tent she was waiting in. Everything was going smoothly, as everything did when she was in charge. The earthbender had been taken care of when Ty Lee snuck up on her, leaping from tree to tree, and finally chi-blocked the snotnosed kid. Then all they did for the waterbender to surrender was threaten to hurt the dirt eater, just as they were using the waterbender against the Avatar now.

As satisfying as a fight would have been, Azula was glad everything was wrapping up neatly. It was especially favorable since she hadn't quite recovered from the lightning strike. Her body felt off somehow—shaky. Every now and then her fingers twitched on their own and her heart would pound loudly in her ears for a couple of beats before returning to normal. Fortunately, despite that, her firebending hadn't been affected, at least, it hadn't been when she questioned some villagers days earlier.

Ty Lee stood beside her with the limp earthbender at her feet. The kid tried making noise when the massive beast touched down, but a well-placed kick from Azula stopped that. She sensed Ty Lee was uncomfortable, but as long as she did her job it didn't matter.

She heard the three boys talking outside. A laugh...and then another. Is that Zuko? It certainly didn't sound like he was being held hostage. Had he gained their trust? He's smarter than I gave him credit for.

As the sounds began to shift from behind her tent to in front by the fire, Azula nodded for Ty Lee to exit and sneak behind the tents out of their view.

A yelp. Mai's indifferent voice from the other tent commanded order. The Avatar pitifully pleaded for the Water Tribe girl to be let go.

It was time to end this. Finally.

She sounded as she always did: confident, malicious, playful. She was in charge and everyone knew it. Walking outside, she began, smiling, "As soon as you let my dear brother go."

Then she saw him. She felt her jaw drop. "Zuko?" she whispered.

She barely recognized him. His face, hair, and clothing were gray with soot—even his red scar had been muted by the dust. Though she couldn't see exactly how thin he looked, she knew he had lost a significant amount of weight since she saw him last when he, Iroh, and this spirits-cursed group attacked her, and she thought he looked skinny then. Now, his cheeks were sunken and his jawline sharp. She didn't want to think about how his body looked underneath his shirt. Mai had told her he looked bad, but she couldn't have imagined this.

Anger poured into her body and spread as easily as any wildfire. Her voice cut with each word: "Who did this? Avatar?"

"No, I—" the pathetic boy started to say.

"Don't try to deny it." She strode to him, conjuring flaming blue daggers in her hands. They were all going to pay for this.

"Azula," her brother said. He did sound different—rougher, tired, something. He had only stood there and called her name, but it was enough to make her hesitate. "Please."

What was he talking about? "'Please' what?"

"Don't hurt him." He still had made no move toward her. That wasn't out of the ordinary for him, but usually he seemed tense, annoyed, and always on the verge of spitting fire, but...but it was like all his energy had disappeared.

Still, he had a point. If they could, Father would want the Avatar in one piece. She lowered her hands and the flames disappeared. Though she was still distracted, she managed to smirk at the airbender idiot and say, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to at least burn off a few body parts, but the Fire Lord would like you brought to him unharmed, preferably. However, he said nothing about your friends."