The Officer and the Princess: The Flames Of War

Chapter 23

This didn't happen, in the past no one would have even humored sneaking into the Palace, at least not when Ozai sat upon the throne. But Azula had once proven how easy it was to do when she and the Fire Warriors had once infiltrated the Palace. Why Zuko had thought it wise to decrease the size of the Security detail that had once numbered in the hundreds she didn't understand, but he was paying for that choice over and over again. The proof was literally sitting right in front of him on his throne. An older man in firebenders armor a sword on his back, one of his eyes missing and his face looking as if it had caught the wrong end of a field plow, covered in so many scars Azula couldn't even tell what his face may have once originally looked like. She noticed the sides of his head were shaved but his top knot remained in place. A sign that he had lost an Agni Kai at some point.

The man sat in a rather relaxed posture as if he owned the building, spinning that black bladed sword as if in challenge. "Kurn." He heard Sung call the man by name as if just speaking the name was an affront to everything that was decent. She could see as Sung's body began to go through waves of relaxation and tension like he seemed to do without thinking when he thought a battle was approaching.

So this was the "famous" Kurn, the man who had did what she had never been able to do fully, throw the Fire Nation into chaos. If it had been a year or two ago Azula might have been impressed, even Jealous of how Kurn was able to accomplish so much in so little time, but it wasn't a year or two ago any more. Now she only saw a man clinging to a past that was quickly dying out.

Kurn stared at Sung with a look of indifference, as if the very presence of him was insignificant. "Lord Sung, last we met you ran off so quickly we didn't have much of a chance to talk, I should feel offended." Kurn trailed off picking up the sword by its handle and laying the weapon in his lap. "Didnt your father teach you to respect your elders?" Azula caught the condescending tone immediately, Kurn had clearly meant mentioning Pai Yang as an insult, perhaps to goad Sung into action.

She could practically see the Anger building up inside him at that moment. "He taught me how to kill enemies of the Fire Nation Kurn, do you want to give me a reason to put those teachings to use?" Sung asked as he took a stance, his legs outstretched and his fists cocked and ready to let loose.

Kurn held up his other hand, between his thumb and index finger was a white cloth. Some would call the gesture a parlay flag, something two armies used when they wanted to talk in a civilized manner. "I am enacting article five subsection Z of the Ba Sing Se Accords." The Ba Sing Se accords were an old document written during Avatar Yangchens time, supposed to be a document on how the Nation's conducted war, such articles as treatment of prisoners for example. But since the hundred year war the Accord had been mostly ignored. The article Kurn was referencing was one in which an emissary from one warring nation met with another, it was supposed to be respected that the emissary in question couldn't be harmed in any way and be allowed to leave once business had concluded, of course that document hadn't been followed in almost one hundred years, so his claim to be following it was practically worthless.

"You do not get to make demands Kurn!" Zuko said in a commanding tone as he stepped forward. "Surrender now!"

She saw Sokka point. "And give me back my Space Sword!"

Kurns one eye squinted as he held the Jian up like he was showing it off. "You gave an elegant weapon a childish name Water Tribe." He said, ignoring Zukos command. "The way I see it, the sword isn't yours any more since I found it in the Wulong Forest jammed blade down into a stone. It's almost poetic, the sword in the stone." Kurn chuckled, giving the blade a few spins before resting the tip on the floor again. His eye then fell on Azula. "I've been looking for your Princess, your father misses you greatly. He wants you to join us."