The old Fire Lord lay dead still…

His youngest son stared down at him; the man he had looked up to and tried to impress all his life… much like his daughter, Ozai could not register any grievous emotion… The only thing the soon-to-be monarch could think about was the stench the corpse would soon bring if the medical examiners and the Fire Sages did not arrive soon. He had sent a message by hawk to the Sages; he knew three to be here in the Crater running an errand his father had kept a sworn secret while the remaining two were left to run their always prime errand of guarding the Fire Avatar’s temple.

His father had been dead for a couple of hours now… The skin of his face and hands was paling from an already pale apricot to a light, grey-ish colour. Ozai found that he no longer felt any remorse for his departed, rotting father the moment he had ‘finalised’ his feelings for his wife… So why did he still feel unhappy? This chain of events was sure to bring Ozai the throne and the most powerful title in the Fire Nation, the deed had been placed on the side of Azulon’s bed with a quill and spilt inkpot located on the floor in a clever attempt to fake something of a true final wish.

Though in all his anticipation, the young prince’s thoughts kept drifting back to those moments where his family was actually happy… Those moments where Ursa was his princess… Those moments that he could no longer have again… His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on one of the bedroom doors. Ozai turned, walked to the doors and opened them both to reveal the very people he had been waiting for… “Greetings, Prince Ozai…”

Ozai bowed his head and chest forward slightly; then gestured for them all to enter. The two groups also bowed and accepted the gesture… The Great Sage was the first to approach Azulon, while the other two sages present followed up behind him and then the examiners. All three sages kneeled in respect to the dead Fire Lord and his soon-to-be body examiners followed in accordance, this was a tradition Ozai couldn’t help but find rather worthless in meaning… Once a human is dead, their soul has left their body… no living soul truly respects the empty shell of what was once something great… why go to all the energy to kneel in reverence to a dead body? But nonetheless, Ozai soon followed so as not to draw attention to himself…

As they all stood, The Great Sage nodded to the examiners and they walked in front of the sages. The Great Sage turned to Ozai. “Prince Ozai, where is the rest of your family?” he asked out of curiosity.

“My wife and children are all asleep in their quarters, as far as I’m aware…” Ozai answered. “I did not wish to wake them…”

The Great Sage nodded and folded his arms as the examiners continued their work. They stood after several long minutes; one turned to Ozai and spoke up after several seconds. “This… servant girl you mentioned… what weapons did she have on her person?”

“I’m still not aware of the type of weapon this woman carried, let alone if she even had one at all… The two elite guards who last saw her have not been seen since they last reported what they had witnessed to me.” Ozai replied, every word spoken with a strange sincerity about it.

“But surely…” the youngest sage frowned. “Your father is a healthy man, despite his age; though I mean no disrespect…” he was quick to add. “There must be some evidence of an attack…”

“As far as we are aware, there is no evidence of murder… My guess; is that the girl most likely fled in fear of her own life…” another examiner stated.

Ozai looked down, plastering a look of sadness on his face. He then looked up several seconds later and addressed his favourite issue. “My brother is still grieving over his lost son; the country will go into chaos at the mere mention of my father’s death, what should be done…?”

The Great Sage bowed his head slightly. “This turn of events will have to be kept a sworn secret, my Prince, until the elder prince can return to reclaim the throne…”

The Sage who had not yet spoken had noticed the spilt ink on the floor and saw the deed to the throne sitting open near a pillow. Picking it up, he read through the entire thing as the Prince and the Great Sage both continued to speak to each other. The Sage interrupted the two as they went into the beginning of a debate, his voice strained in awe. “Our lord… He wrote a will… on his very deathbed…”

The Sage handed the deed to Prince Ozai. As Ozai read the deed, his breath caught in his throat. He handed the deed over to the Great Sage and looked ahead. The examiners and the youngest Sage stood in apprehension and the Great Sage read through the deed. After several long seconds, the elderly Sage spoke aloud. “Then… it is finalised.” The Great Sage lowered the deed and turned to Ozai, a solemn expression on his face. “Our new monarch, the new ruler of our land; is to be you, Prince Ozai…”

Ozai’s eyes widened slightly; he then looked towards the ground again. The audience around him did not know any better, and assumed that the young prince truly felt the pressure of such a title that would be enforced upon him by his father. He then looked up; a small, solemn smile creeping onto his face. “I will do my best for this glorious nation…”

The Great Sage nodded. The youngest Fire Sage, though he dare not show it, felt deeply, deeply concerned for his nation…

Ursa was not used to running for this length of time. She had kept up this pace for quite some time now; through the windows she had passed, dawn could visibly be seen approaching… she was surprised to see that despite the excitement of the event, the corridors of the palace were now completely clear… Though she felt ready to drop, she forced herself to keep running. The metallic footsteps that could be heard rushing a fair distance behind her coaxed her into the laborious task… However, it was not only the physical pressure of the run that made Ursa feel ready to collapse…

Ozai was right; her children were not safe with her… But how much safer were they with Ozai than with her? It was hard to say… Though how could she expect to leave with Zuko and Azula while this man, this thing, was pursuing her? As she had wondered just before she’d slain Azulon, why would nothing work out in her favour? Why would only those with selfish or cruel motives prevail over Ursa’s own, fair requests? Zuko was safe, yes, but for how much longer…?

Ursa flung herself through a door with all her strength, closing it behind her before running halfway down an old, dark passageway and stopping to hide and rest behind a marble statue. She took a deep breath and sank to the equally marble floor; she couldn’t run forever, she was going to have to make her decision now. She heard the door fling open, sounding as though it was now barely on its hinges, then heard the sound of metallic footsteps pound not too far away from her location…

She could literally feel herself sweat as she wondered what she would do… If she ran now, she might be able to say goodbye to her children and leave the palace on her own; even if Ozai trusted this man with her safety, Ursa certainly didn’t… But if she was clever, she could bide herself some time… not enough to take them both with her, but certainly some time to say goodbye and make her leave… Her eyes shut tight, pained by the thought of leaving her babies both behind with the monster of a (soon-to-be) monarch that was her husband… She couldn’t dwell on her grief much longer as she picked up upon the approaching footsteps again…

A sudden thought occurred to Ursa which made her eyes widen; she had heard of this man! Through gossip when she was a child, of a man with a unique firebending ability; that could be used through an overdeveloped third eye… She then noticed pebbles in a container beside her, and it gave her an idea; she quietly stood to her feet and picked two up carefully; she flinched as the mere, small scraping sound this gave off echoed through the hallway. She heard the footsteps cease as attention was brought to her location… Thankfully, it was dark enough for the sight of a small object to be missed… she skimmed the two pebbles across the floor just as the metallic footsteps started again, increasing in speed; they came to a sudden halt yet again as the combustor registered the sound they had made.

He ran just ahead of her, but as a pebble shifted from its position in the container, he turned back and fixed his gaze on Ursa. He ran back towards her. In a state of panic, Ursa grabbed the bowl of the container and threw it, pebbles and all, directly at the giant’s face just when he came within a three foot range of her. The brass bowl vibrated as it connected with the combustor’s head; he snarled in pain and fell back, clutching to his third eye. Ursa flung herself around him and sprinted away to the opposite end of the corridor, knowing the location of the bedchambers to be not too far away…

Azula groaned. She walked back towards her quarters, opened the door and threw herself onto her bed. She’d walked everywhere and there had been no sign of her mother; or, in fact, anyone… All the thrill of the situation had died down everywhere and as dawn approached, the tired young princess had almost lost all hope of finding out what had really happened, or even what was going on right now; it was frustrating her to the point of sleep. As she was about to drift off, she felt a hand on her back nudge her awake. She looked up and rubbed her eyes, what she next saw snapped her eyes wide open. “Daddy?”

“Azula…” he muttered in a low voice, as though they were being overheard. Azula couldn’t help but glance around curiously for a second before turning back to face her father. “Terrible treason has occurred tonight…” he continued in that same low mutter, “and now, your mother is trying to take you away from me…”

“… No! I want to be here with you!” Azula cried out in outrage.

Ozai gave her a harsh “Ssh!” and stormed away to close her bedchamber door.

“… I’m sorry, father, continue…” Azula whispered as he sat back down on her bed; she crossed her legs and sat up straight, trying to look regal.

“I’ll have to leave you alone; I have things to take care of… But, I want you to wait in here and keep a lookout. Should she try to take you away, refuse. Refuse like your life depends on it, refuse in honour of us. She has no right to separate us… But whatever the outcome, should you see your mother at all…”

Ozai paused for quite some time; could he trust Ursa to leave on her own? No, that wasn’t possible… she was a traitor and she wanted his heirs, she could not be trusted… He sighed; Azula shifted on the spot as a small sign of impatience that her father, luckily, did not respond to. “Let me know…” he then stood up and left the room, leaving the door open behind him as he spun around the right-hand corner.

Azula frowned, then groaned in frustration and threw herself back down. Her father had been far too vague; what was going on?

Ursa hid behind a pillar as she watched Ozai turn a corner; perhaps to meet up with her three-eyed pursuer? When she was sure she was out of sight, she slipped away and into Iroh’s chambers. Seeing his desk and a brush, inkpot and a piece of parchment conveniently placed together, she wrote her brother-in-law a rushed note on the events of the morning and had requested, though she was sure she needn’t, that he would watch over Zuko for her. “All my love…” Ursa muttered quietly as she wrote those exact same words on the parchment, followed by her name.

Capping the inkpot and placing the brush down, she waited a moment for the ink to dry before slipping the note in the one place she knew her brother-in-law would find it… under his tea tray.

She walked to the door, opened it and looked around… Strange… the footsteps had died down completely… She frowned, feeling slightly suspicious… Deciding to take her chances, knowing that she couldn’t stay in Iroh’s quarters forever, she walked out carefully and then rushed into her own quarters. Contrary to what she thought beforehand, she realised that she did want a few items of material value close with her during her banishment. She looked around, thinking of anything she could take with her… Portraits, drawings, little objects or even trinkets of memorial value? No, those were too valuable for her to lose… She saw an old scroll on basic chi-blocking she had barely even touched that her friend, Chi-Pin, had given her for her 14th birthday… That would do. She reached over to pick it up, then felt her own chi freeze as she heard the door creak open.

“Mother…” Ursa spun around, her eyes wide, and saw Azula standing there… Breathing a sigh of relief, Ursa began to walk over to her. “Azula…”

Azula suddenly stepped back, setting her hands alight with fire and narrowing her eyes. “Don’t touch me…”

Ursa stopped and frowned, “… Why, darling?”

Azula rolled her eyes and sniffed. “You know why… You want to take me away from my father. Well, I don’t want to go with you… I’ve heard things… … I heard you murdered grandpa…”

Ursa nodded sadly. “I did… For Zuko…” she said softly, as though that resolved the case.

Azula bared her teeth as she spoke. “Why? What’s so special about Zuko…? Why did grandpa deserve to die instead of him? Why do you always push everyone aside for him?”

Ursa couldn’t believe this… How could anyone, young or not, have so little consideration for a sibling? “Zuko deserves a chance! Azulon proved himself to be a complete monster-!”

“You’re the monster here!” Azula screeched, turning Ursa’s growing anger into shock. “Not me, not grandpa, you!”

“Azula…” Ursa managed to breathe out. “I didn’t mean-”

“Well you did…” Azula turned and ran down the hallway, turning a corner and heading for her father. As she did, Ursa ran out of the door.

“Azula!” she called after her, running towards the corner. She then stopped and looked back, seeing the door to Zuko’s quarters just up ahead… Azula, sadly, would not see reason if Ursa tried to speak with her and she could not afford to be seen with her… What if Ozai would have Azula killed in a spur of impatience, just for talking to her murderous mother…?

“I’m sorry…” she choked out, scrunching her eyes and bowing her head. She was leaving Azula for Zuko again, but she was not the one who needed dire help… or at least, that was what Ursa thought. “Goodbye, my love…” she said aloud towards the corner of the room as she rushed towards the door of Zuko’s bedchamber, not noticing the pearl dagger he owned drop from her person… She just as quietly, quickly rushed inside the door; leaving it open as she scurried towards Zuko’s bed and put a hand on her sleeping son’s shoulder, quickly stirring him awake. “Mom?” he said sleepily in a curious tone of voice.

“Zuko;” she lifted him into a sitting position by his arms as she continued in a low voice, “please, my love, listen to me. Everything I’ve done,” she brought Zuko into a tight embrace, “I’ve done to protect you…”

The boy just lay there against her shoulder; too tired to respond, however he had somehow picked up every word of what she had said… Ursa looked to the side with a worried expression, still embracing Zuko, as she heard footsteps outside. Sitting him up again, Ursa whispered, “Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are.”

She let her son go and he merely slumped over in his tired state, looking ahead at her. Ursa gave him a small smile and pulled the hood of her travelling cloak over her head to shield her face as she walked out into the dark hallway, closing the door behind her as she did, leaving her son alone… Somehow, though she did not want to believe it, she felt as though that was the last time she would ever get to see him… she couldn’t help but cry; as she brushed her tears away with her hand, she felt another hand grasp her shoulder; Ursa gasped and spun to her side, the hood of her cloak falling down, to see Ozai looking down at her. “Come with me…” with what he said clearly not being a request, Ozai grabbed her arm and forced her to walk along with him.

“What are you going to do to me…?” Ursa said, her voice hinting towards savagery as Ozai closed the door and turned to face his wife, standing in the centre of the room.

“If you will not leave now, I wish to see you one last time…” Ozai said softly.

“So you do still care…?” Ursa asked, voice equally as soft.

Ozai nodded. “I do…”

“Then why ask me to leave in the first place?” Ursa inquired, raising her brow.

Ozai paused a little too long before he answered that question. “Surely you do not expect to walk in and out of the Fire Lord’s bedchambers, murdering him, without the blood on your hands?”

“There’s a real reason…” Ursa said, voice bordering impatience.

“… I am not authorised to tell you…” Ozai said meekly.

“That’s not good enough.” Ursa said. “I went along with that request thinking you didn’t truly care, but obviously you still do… You could have taken extra measures to ensure I was not caught, it’s your own fault you feel this way!”

“I did not ask for the boy’s safety, you did! I granted you that chance, so be a little more grateful!” Ozai spat back in anger, sick of being answered back by a woman.

“Remember Ozai, you are the reason our son was almost killed.” Ursa stated simply.

Unable to answer back to that, Ozai merely grunted huskily.

Ursa narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. “… Why are you letting me walk free? The Ozai I know wouldn’t allow it… What about Zuko? You didn’t hesitate to kill him to impress your father…”

“I do not care for the boy the way I care for you.” Ozai said impatiently.

Ursa knew he was getting impatient, and she loved it. “I am quite aware of this… but why do you still care for me? I’m a traitorous murderer; I killed your father, Ozai!”

“I don’t know!” Ozai shouted viciously, he took a deep breath a few seconds later. Ursa was playing with his emotions, it was infuriating! Who did she think she was? He approached her. “I’ve been going through a lot. I can’t let you die, I… It was a gesture of faith, for helping me secure the throne, understand!?”

Ursa clenched her fists and began to walk towards Ozai. She was going to fully speak her mind, she had to; she wasn’t afraid of him… “You are heartless… Zuko loves you! Do you even realise how unnecessarily upset he gets trying to please you? You were not the perfect son yourself, Ozai, so what gives you the excuse to-” The two had met by this time and Ozai had struck Ursa across the face, not wanting to hear a word from her about his father.

Ursa would have hit the wall, which was several feet away, if this was the first slap she had been given that night. Though she could feel her cheek flaring red, she acted as though he had not even touched her. She was fully ready for any bout of violence from her husband and would take it with dignity; knowing that only he thought he knew where her place was. Ozai grabbed her arm and brought her up close to him. “Our children remain with me! Continue to answer back as you are, and I will kill them!!”

Empty threats… But Azula and Zuko were a touchy subject with Ursa. If Ursa were to continue to wind Ozai up, he would begin to do the same to her… She lowered her head and looked to the side, eyes narrowed; she was slightly disappointed at her loss of chance to disorient the selfish prince further, but she couldn’t take too many chances…

Ozai looked down at Ursa and smirked. Strangely, he couldn’t bring himself to hate this mutinous bitch; no matter what sort of rage he felt at her spiteful words. He put a hand under her face and lifted her head to face his. “I did not wish to banish you, Ursa… I feared for my own life. That is the truth…”

Ursa smiled, those words being what she expected to hear. “Thank you… At least I have the truth.”

Ozai smiled back. It wasn’t the truth; the truth was simply off limits to her and parts of it even to him, but it would satisfy Ursa in the matter.

Ursa’s smile quickly turned into a scowl. Ozai may still love her, but her feelings for him had been missing for hours… “Where is Azula?” she inquired.

“In her quarters…” Ozai then added, with a smirk, “She told me you might be at Zuko’s quarters…”

Ursa looked at Ozai; she appeared slightly hurt, but she didn’t let the feeling catch her off guard and glowered at her as-good-as-ex-husband. “Don’t lie about our daughter, Ozai…”

“What I am telling you is the truth…” Ozai smiled. “She seemed rather upset when she came to me… What did you say to her, Ursa?”

“I said nothing!” Ursa snarled.

“Ah, and here I thought she was being unreasonable…” Ozai’s smile turned into a satisfied smirk and he walked behind her. “If you haven’t made the effort to say something to the child, how do you expect her to feel about you?”

Ursa turned to face him. “… Excuse me?”

“It is only natural… for Azula to rebel against you… a rebellious child is the mirror image of a rebellious mother… Why, you even went against your own standards when you attempted to attack our daughter all those years ago…”

“I did not attempt to attack Azula!” Ursa snarled at Ozai. “I was angry at her and the fire…!”

“Just came into your hands…” Ozai chuckled and folded his arms, gratified at her silence to his words. “Azula’s only a child; therefore her conscience is divided… I am willing to steer her in the right direction. You do not have to worry about her upbringing. It’s not like you could, or ever have, helped-”

Ursa struck Ozai across the face. It was uncalled for, but the man was grating on her nerves; belittling her and placing all the blame on her for one mistake… and not one she was happy about…

Ozai merely raised his eyebrows; the slap was not a hard one, and his thoughts had drifted off elsewhere. He looked towards the grated window attached to the wall of the room they were in, the sky had paled… “This is an endless circle of arguments… dawn has arrived and you are still not out of the palace…” He turned to face her.

“In your banishment and throughout my reign, you will not be allowed to return to this nation and live to tell the tale … If when Azula becomes monarch, and believe me she will, she wants you back, she will get her wish… But I may have to convince her to go easy on you once we do get you back here…” Ozai smirked at Ursa. Agni, he made her feel sick… “Zuko is permitted to stay… But his rights to the throne will be invalidated, as you already know. Should he present a single sign of treason, he will be banished too. But not before I teach the boy… a lesson…”

Ursa glared at Ozai, scowling. “If you hurt Zuko… I will make you pay for it. Trust me…”

Ozai merely smiled. “Goodbye, Ursa…” he kissed her on the lips and as Ursa pushed him away in disgust, she frowned. “Goodbye? Why now?”

Ozai smirked. “Take her…”

Before Ursa could react, a loud strike to the side of her head knocked her out cold, she fell to the ground as the metallic assassin appeared in full form directly behind her.

Ozai nodded to the combustor, looked down at Ursa for a few seconds and then handed him a small bag of money. “Keep her safe…” he added gently as he left the room, not once looking back…

The assassin merely grunted and smirked at those words.

Azula lay on her bed in her quarters; she yawned and rubbed her eyes. Though she felt tired, anticipation kept her awake… though she was told she could not be informed, she wanted to know what would become of her mother. Would she be imprisoned for her crime, banished, sentenced to death? Azula considered all possibilities like she was choosing her answer for a test, unconcerned by the brutality of some of the sentences. Her thoughts were interrupted as her door was opened and her father entered the room.

“She’s gone?” Azula asked, sitting up.

“She’s gone…” Ozai nodded. “Tell your brother nothing of what happened today, the boy will just become even more of an annoyance if he finds out…”

Azula nodded obediently. “Yes, father…”

Ozai closed the door and smiled softly. Azula truly was the perfect child… he only wished he could have had the perfect wife… Head down, he walked through the hallway and headed outside, desperately needing to satisfy that nagging voice at the back of his head…

Her mother was gone… Azula lay back down, unsure of what to think… She’d been mad at her mother, and so she should have been for what she had said and done back two years ago… But perhaps, if Azula had been more reasonable, she would have been able to say goodbye. Then again… her mother didn’t come after her… Azula sniffed, a vicious look formed on her face. She didn’t need her mother… her mother didn’t really care for her, she just pretended to… Azula left her room and walked down the hallway; no longer tired and hungry for breakfast…

Zuko sat up, the time between his mother speaking to him and the present moment seeming like a mere second… “Mom?” … It hadn’t been a second… he threw his bed sheet away and ran towards the door. “Mom!” he opened it and ran out into the hallway. “Mom!”

Azula didn’t hear her brother and kept walking until she stepped on something… Frowning and looking down, she removed her foot; her eyes widened slightly. Zuko’s dagger! She smiled, all the conflicting emotions of her mother’s removal in her life suddenly forgotten.

Azula knelt down and picked up the dagger, her face lighting up as she unsheathed the weapon. Just then, she heard hurried footsteps and leant against the pillar, unsure of whom was there… she turned to look and saw her brother, a worried expression on his face, looking around for his mother with his fists clenched. She smirked; oh, he was so clueless… she turned to face him, still leaning against the pillar and holding the dagger behind her back. Zuko turned to face her. “Where’s mom?” he asked, his voice filled with worry.

“No one knows…” Azula said simply, turning her head away from him. She held up Zuko’s dagger and turned back to face him, smiling deceptively, as she said, “Oh, and last night, Grandpa passed away…” callously and just looked away again, smiling, expression calm.

“Not funny, Azula… You’re sick…” Zuko said, pointed at her; he then began to walk towards her as he spoke again. “And I want my knife back, now.” He made to grab for the weapon…

Azula spun out of the way and held the dagger up, teasing him. “Who’s going to make me, mom?”

Zuko’s eyes widened, but he didn’t dwell on that sad feeling of her disappearance for long as he angrily grabbed the dagger from his little sister and ran the way she was facing. Azula merely folded her arms and watched him as he ran… “So clueless…” she thought to herself, smirking.

Ozai looked down at the rippling water of the turtleduck pond, it was completely empty… Where were the accursed creatures? Did they have a place to sleep at night, did they sleep underwater, or did they move to another pond…? He sighed; Ursa would know…

Zuko ran out, he saw the back of his father’s body. He was standing between the tree and the turtleduck pond you would usually find Ursa near. He was looking over the pond, completely stationary. Zuko clenched his fists, annoyed at the lack of information about what happened to his mother. “Where is she?” he asked.

His father did not look back, he did not even answer his son’s question… Zuko’s eyes glossed, he looked down… knowing he wasn’t going to get an answer…

With dawn present; the skies of the Fire Nation shone a bright white. Luminous rays of light shone down upon the land below, radiating the large structure of the royal palace located directly in the middle of it … A large man was walking across the path, a mile or so away from the Crater; the unconscious body of a woman was draped in his arms, damp blood had dried a section of her hair and was visible on the left side of her face in long lines coloured deep red.

Minutes later, the man came to a stop at a pair of crossroads. He let out a low, rasping grunt and looked around; wrinkles of impatience formed just below his third eye. He then looked to the side upon hearing a light trotting sound in the horizon; a large carriage, being hauled along by not-so-large ostrich-horses, soon drew up beside him. A small, frazzled, tired-looking man jumped from the carriage and drew himself up to his full ‘height’ as he stood in front of the towering combustor. “Apologies; these useless horses seem to be on their way to hell…”

The man then looked at the woman, regarding her for a few seconds, before looking back up at the combustor. “This is her?” he asked, though there was really no question about it…

The combustor nodded. To this, the small shady man grinned and turned to the carriage. “Men!”

It took a second before five other equally frazzled men peered out of the carriage all at once. “Meet the would-have-been Fire Lady…”

The men approached the combustor, glancing at the unconscious form of the ‘would-have-been Fire Lady’ in his arms. A bearded man let out a sexually suggestive whistle. “Foxy-lookin’, ain’t she?”

Three of the men sounded their agreement while the last, and the most deranged-looking of the group, peered up at the metallic giant of a man. “Little manly to be the Fire Lady, ain’t she…?” The man then received four swift smacks to the back of his head.

“Agni, Alerio! You couldn’t tell what a woman was if one stripped naked!” a man with nose piercings hissed at him, scowling.

The man with piercings continued to rant to Alerio about genders; Alerio soon tired of listening to the man’s lisp and turned to look between the combustor and the princess with a mortally confused expression on his face.

The largest man in the group smacked the man with the lisp upside the head as he took the unconscious princess away from the assassin and carried her into the interior of the large wooden carriage. The boss shook the combustor’s hand amicably; then turned to his own men. “Lads, keep in mind that Xing Hai is probably gonna want to see the princess fully clothed…”

The men caught the hint; they all groaned in unison and the bearded man slammed the door to the carriage behind him. The boss chuckled. “Poor horny buggers ain’t had contact with a woman for a while now… Pay’s been coming late for us, so we gotta spend our earnings on the necessities while travelling; the whore house seems but a distant dream…” he sighed and looked up at the taller man standing before him, noting the impatience in his expression. The boss reached into a pocket and handed the metallic giant a small pouch of money and turned to the side. “I must commend you, you have done well... The Chain may well wish to call upon you some other time…”

With a nod and a salute, the man climbed onto the half-destroyed wooden mess that was the driver’s seat of the carriage. He took hold of two whips, threw them back and sent a vicious strike forwards. With a piercing scream from each ostrich-horse, they both galloped along the path at an erratic speed; the strike of the whip opened a set of healing wounds on their backs and streams of glistening crimson ran down the animal’s sides. The poor creatures appeared to be in pain; but they did not dare to stop, let alone faint…

Ozai was walking back from the turtleduck pond. He had stood there for perhaps a good long hour… it would have been longer if he had more time, but sadly… there were certain affairs that had to be taken care of… He turned a corner, and saw a sight that made him frown. Azula was curled up near the feet of a marble statue of a dragon; she was fast asleep, her light breathing could just be heard through the deserted hallway and her chest rose and fell in rhythm to her breath. Ozai merely sighed and shook his head. He approached Azula, knelt down and slipped his hands underneath the girl’s back. He picked his daughter up and carried her to her quarters.

YES, I did it! Just like I promised, too.

Guys... 5,854 words... Seriously, thanks for reading. Hope you liked it!

Original Dialogue & Scripting For Episode 7 of Season 2, "Zuko Alone", is copyright to Avatar: The Last Airbender. Written by Elizabeth Welch Ehasz and directed by Lauren Macmullan.

Avatar: The Last Airbender does not own me... Oh, wait...