Azula Alone

Pana

As the ship had already slowed down, Azula awoke. She wasn't fully asleep since she had to be on the lookout for someone to barge in, but strangely no one ever did.

She stood up with her everlasting grace, put her hair into place and looked tough the little window. It looked like they were finally nearing a port.

But it wasn't any port.

And now she finally understood why the ship was that much faster than normal. It wasn't just powered by its mechanics, but by waterbending too. It had to go this fast because, well, they needed to travel more then one nation. And it seemed like they were now fully in Water nation territory.

The icy rocks everywhere, the beautiful and tall blocks made of ice. It was even more beautiful than she thought it was. Azula had seen paintings in her schoolbooks and in her history class she was taught that due to its  geographical location, the Fire nation was not able to penetrate the thick icy walls that covered the great North Pole. But none of her books showed the master building techniques, the creative use of their bending skills, the glorious walls, the ingenious systems that allowed them to enter the port. The waterbenders making sure the ships where accounted for, leading them into the never ending city of ice.

It was beautiful to see, even for the former princess.

It reminded her of Omashu the way the city was build. It was build on bending. On pride. Or as the little booklet of Sokka mentioned: on death.

Though she held the Firenation dear and the palace they had was gorgeous, but they could not build anything out of flames. But just how she respected the Dalai-lee for their skill and wit, she respected the northern Watertribe for their sculpting and planning.

The boat came to a full stop.

Azula had two options: stay on the ship and wait until they were back in the Firenation, or get off here and hop on another ship that would sail towards the Firenation.

She looked out of the window; it would be difficult sneaking out in her, quite obvious, Firenation clothing. She took off the obvious red coat she wore, took the book and put it in her pocked, then she swung out the window, closely navigating the whole era.

There weren't a lot of people in the harbor, but there were more benders then she could handle alone. There were no other ships around either. Maybe in a few hours, or maybe weeks. She landed on the ground and snuck away. 

Azula had never faced such cold weather before. She practiced her firebreath to keep warm enough, but she couldn't do it too much for it would draw too much attention. So she sat near an arc of some sorts.

She looked around, hoping to find more ships, but there weren't any. Then something black cached her eye. It looked like it was trapped in the ice. Or maybe it was the ice. She knew the Firenation had planned an attack on the North, but there were some details she couldn't have known, just like rut and snow mixed together. She looked at the book again.

The mixture of rut and snow reminded me of how the village was under attack when I was little. The beautiful white landscape had turned grey. And it only worsened. I took Yue back on Appa to look how many ships there were, and by the looks of it, a lot.

Azula skipped trough the pages. There were mentions of certain events that even the firelord hasn't heard of.

The moon became red. And then it disappeared as the spirit of the moon died. All at one mans hand. Zhao.

Azula gasped and looked at the city. In all it's wondrous glory, there was a secret. She could kill the moon spirit. She skipped some more pages.

Zuko had taken Aang.

So little Zuzu was here aswell. Zuzu and Zhao?

She closed the book. No need to catch a ship, she thought.

"Aren't you cold?", someone asked.

Azula tried to look up, but she couldn't really see the person.

"I'm just asking because you don't look like you're from around here", the person continued.

Aula blinked again trying to look at the person. But there was something strange. She was freezing cold, yet somehow not at all. She felt numb. She hadn't been out in the cold for that long, why was she feeling that way?

She tried to blink again, but it was no use. She couldn't. It was like her eyelids had frozen shut and she needed more energy to open them. But she had none. She hadn't eaten since she was still in the Firenation.

"Hey, everything fine?"

Even if she wanted to reply, Azula couldn't.

"This isn't good", was the last thing she heard before passing out.