The Firelord's Honor

Chapter 52

Chapter 52

When Azula had asked the Water tribe man to allow her to help, as earnest as she'd been she was surprised by his answer. He had ordered one of the guards outside of her room to follow them at first to bend the tunnel opening and then to run to find Zuko and the others to tell them where to look. Despite his better judgment, he was apparently trusting her not to kill him and escape. The fact that she probably could have escaped her stone prison if she'd wanted to bad enough must not have gone as unnoticed as she'd initially thought.

Now, leading him down the tunnel she believed the Dai Lee were most likely to use, Azula knew she had to use this opportunity to prove herself. If she made one wrong move they'd believe it was on purpose because she was working with the rogue earthbenders. She hoped she'd have better control of her bending than she'd had in recent weeks.

Approaching what she knew to be a side chamber, Azula held up her hands for Sokka to stop. She was more thankful than ever for taking time to memorize the tunnel map she'd been given by Long Feng the last time she was here. There were voices coming from the doorway they crouched behind. They seemed to be arguing about what to do with the baby who was quite distressed by the sound of it.

Sokka tapped her shoulder, holding up four, then five fingers as he frowned. He appeared to be listening intently, counting the number of agents there might be. Damn, at her best she could have taken them by herself. As it was, she doubted this would have a good outcome. Suddenly Sokka was extremely close to her, his mouth by her ear. Azula stiffened at the overwhelming physical contact, his chest pressed against her back and his hand gripping her shoulder. She held back a shudder as his breath ghosted across her cheek as he spoke.

"I doubt we can take all of them alone. The others know where to look for us, we just need to make sure they don't get out of the city before they get here."

Swallowing thickly, Azula nodded.

"We should wait, let them make the first move. I doubt they will harm Kya. They need her alive."

Behind her, Sokka tensed.

"I worry about what they'll do to stop her crying. They better not hurt her..."

Conversation over for the time being, Sokka moved away from her and to crouch back against the wall. Letting out the breath she'd been holding, Azula settled in for a wait, glancing nervously at her partner. She had never been that close to a male she wasn't related to or was trying to kill and she was unsettled by how it had felt. For a Water Tribe peasant, he was surprisingly warm.

Kya's cries continued, upsetting Azula more than she had expected. As the minutes ticked by, the cries and arguments continuing, her anxiety rose. How much longer would it take for Zuko and Katara to get there? When would the Dai Lee make their move? Surely they wouldn't wait around much longer.

Her questions were answered when one agent spoke over the baby.

"We can't wait any longer. Every minute we sit here we risk discovery. It's only a matter of time before that blind girl feels us out, they have probably been captured. We must leave while we still can."

"But Wei Lin, if they're captured, won't Ozai punish—"

The rest was mumbled and unintelligible from where they sat but the gist was clear. Sokka drew his boomerang and Azula tensed for the fight. Kya hadn't stopped screaming yet but the sound of shuffling feet told them the Dai Lee agents were on the move. Azula took a deep breath and locked her gaze on the opening in the cavern wall, igniting a small blue flame in her hand.

<ZK>

Zuko and Sokka had been gone for what felt like ages. More than an hour had passed since her husband and brother had stormed out and she was growing increasingly frantic. She had been able to heal Sitka, her friend had woken terrified and devastated. Clinging to her husband and sobbing into her son's hair, Sitka told them what had happened.