Freedom

Chapter 23: The Sounds of Crackling Fire

Trigger Warning: Implied Sexual Violence

Azula simply couldn't find joy in the simple things.

Ba Sing Se wasn't enough to keep her attention. Azula had stayed for much longer then she had wanted. She found capturing the city far too easy.

Everything seemed to just fall right into her hands, like it always did.

From the Kyoshi uniforms, to her own brother falling right into her lap.

The city had fallen after her brother had been captured. There was no one left to protect it.

After her traitorous brother and uncle were captured, she quickly grew bored and longed to return to the Fire Nation, knowing she would be welcomed back with open arms.

But every time she wrote her father begging him to come home, she received a few word response.

You'll stay where I need you to Azula.

Then it would be signed with the Fire Nation insignia, like every letter her father wrote.

Every time she'd pout quietly before sulking and continuing her daily duties, most of which included instilling fear in her inferiors and telling others what should be done.

Frankly, she knew everything that needed to be done. All the capable earth bending men needed to be put to work. The mine fields on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se held plentiful gems and jewels. They had been in the Fire Nation's sights for decades but just slightly out of reach.

But she, Fire Princess Azula, was the one who captured all of them for the nation.

It brought a small smirk to her face.

The city needed to reign in fire and all the others needed to be put in their place. She had already heard of rebellions scattered across the large city. But she made sure her Dai Li agents knew to put a stop to them, by any means necessary.

But sitting on the throne of Ba Sing De quickly grew tiresome, especially when Mai and Ty-Lee were summoned to be with their families.

Mai's parents had found a eligible suitor for her, a young man with wealthy parents in the outskirt islands of the Fire Nation. She looked positively bored when she received their letter, even more then usual. But she still packed her things and took a small navy ship back to Omashu where her parents had been governing since it fell.

A few days later, Ty-Lee had received a letter of her own. One of her sisters had fallen ill and her mother needed help to watch the little ones. Azula saw the conflict in her friend's face as she read the letter. The girl hadn't been home in a year. She had no desire to go home. But it was still family.

She left a few days later, just the same.

Azula felt herself going positively stir-crazy in the reasonably small palace. She often asked herself how someone of a parent royalty could live under these constraints.

She was just starting to make the plans for a remodel when a letter arrived.

She folded it open and looked through the page, immediately seeing the Fire Nation insignia glowing off of the page, as if his own Fire had written it.