Azula's Recovery - Avatar: TLA

7.4 - Azula

"Earth to Azula? Is there anyone in there?" Suki waved a hand in front of her friends face.

Azula snapped out of her thoughts, "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just asked how you were feeling," Suki said as the two walked back to their rooms to prepare for a training session.

"Oh. I don't really know. Frustrated. Afraid. Nervous. Why... Do you think she meant what she said?" Azula almost didn't want to hear the answer.

"Who Mai? No I...I mean she doesn't exactly keep grudges. You just need to give her time to sort it all out," Suki didn't sound fazed at all. Azula wished she could share her confidence.

"What um...what do they do now? I mean, I know that Ty Lee is a Kyoshi Warrior but I haven't seen her around. And does Mai still live just next to the palace?"

"No she and her mother work at a small florist downtown. Tom-Tom goes to school not too far from there. And the Kyoshi Warriors have grown immensely, we have members all over the world now. Ty Lee's been travelling around and meeting with them. Her chi-blocking is legendary, and she and the girls teach it to all our new members. She really loves it, travelling and making new friends. She was gone quite a while before you came back, she only came home a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh." They'd moved on. They had completely new lives. Part of Azula wanted to feel happy for them, but another part couldn't help feeling hurt. Her friends...they were completely new people now. That's a good thing, she told herself, everyone gets a fresh start.

"So, what about New Years?" Suki asked as they turned down another corridor, almost to their rooms.

"What about it?" Azula said, confused.

"What are you wearing? You must have a thousand fancy dresses for these kinds of things." Azula had always admired how Suki could be so strong and so girly at the same time. She'd never really been allowed to do any girly stuff, it had always just been...preparing for fighting in the war. Preparing to become Fire Lord.

"Uh no. We never celebrated..." Azula frowned, "We never celebrated anything. Father said it was a waste of time. Besides, I didn't even think I was invited."

"What? Of course you are! This is so exciting – we can go shopping!" Suki clapped her hands excitedly, and danced around Azula.

"Shopping? I've never...done that before," Azula said, turning to follow Suki as she moved.

Suki stopped and crossed her arms, "Azula did you get to do anything fun as a child?"

"Ha! What do you think the answer to that is?" Azula mirrored her, crossing her arms.

"Whatever, you can come with us next week. Katara, Toph and I need dresses, and Sokka loves shopping and would never pass up an opportunity to spend someone else's money. So then, it's settled."

"Sokka? Shopping?" Azula couldn't mask her confusion. I thought men hated shopping. Isn't it a girly thing?

Suki laughed, "Oh yeah. He's full of surprises. But you guys will get along fine, he's got an excellent eye for detail. You remind me so much of each other sometimes, both super smart and completely clueless all at the same time."

Azula thought back to all the times she'd spent hunting them and even fighting them. She'd picked him from the start as the leader; he'd been intelligent and cunning, but also creative and brave. He'd also had a wicked looking club that she had immediately decided not to be on the receiving end of. And now she was going to go shopping with him. Oh, how times have changed.

Suki went to her own room to change out of her dress and into some training gear. Azula did too, excited to get moving, and work out her frustration.

Azula dressed quickly, pulling her training pants, shirt and shoes on. She pulled her hair up into a neat topknot, and grinned as she saw how perfect it was. It felt good to be able to do it herself.

She stepped back out into the hallway, and Suki joined her a moment later. They headed down to the courtyard Zuko had given to the Kyoshi Warriors to train in. Azula saw a bunch of the girls already stretching and she joined in too.

Once they'd finished their warm-ups, Suki lead them through another series of moves to prepare them for some one-on-one duels.

Today, Azula was paired with Ling, and the two girls were pretty evenly matched. It was almost midday, and the Azula could feel the strength the sun seemed to give her. While Ling seemed to get groggier under the heat, Azula felt invigorated. It was almost like she could feel the energy around Ling growing weaker.

Azula wasn't sure how, but she could feel Ling's movements before they even began, a pulse at her opponents shoulder meant she would strike using that arm. A twitch near her hip had Azula backing away from the kick that followed.

Azula wasn't sure what was happening, how she could sense these things or why it worked, but she didn't dwell on it – she just wanted to win. She used the little twinges to guide her steps, and movements.

The two backed away for a second, circling each other. Azula had an idea...and tested her theory. She got close enough to feel the little pulses of energy Ling seemed to emit. Ling tensed, and Azula felt the energy strengthen, preparing for another attack, but instead of simply feeling the pulse, Azula pushed down – stifling it.

Sure enough, instead of Ling stepping towards her, she stumbled. Azula just stood up straight, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Had she just...energy-bent?

No that wasn't possible...or was it? Fire was a form of energy so her theory wasn't too far-fetched...Right?

Ling lifted a hand, "Okay okay, you win. I need a break."

"Of course. Me too," Azula joined Ling as she headed over to a bench with cups and a large water bucket.

"Are you all right? You stumbled before and–," Azula started

"Oh yeah," Ling waved her off, "I don't know what happened, I was about to take a step and then my leg just...didn't move," Ling laughed unfazed, "It doesn't really matter, it is super hot at the moment."

Azula didn't respond. She thought about her firebending lessons, when her instructors had taught her to feel the energy around her, and direct it into the flames, and later lightning. Lightning bending was even more energy focussed, as the bender had to split the positive and negative energies. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

She also thought about why she'd never felt it before, why she'd only been able to do it today. But thinking back...Azula had felt those twinges before. Especially while in combat. It had helped her in the past but...she'd never really thought about it. A new power, she thought, and if no one else knows about it...I can use it to my advantage...

But to do what?

The question stumped her. What did she want? Nothing really. She no longer wanted the throne, or revenge on her mother, or the avatar, or even her friends.

What did she want?

Azula didn't know. But she would find out.

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