The Princess and the Peasant - (An Azula Epic)

Retribution

Yet again the sound of the girl's stomach growling resounded into the royal tent.

While Elle lay on her side refusing to face the princess kneeling over her.

And the two noblewomen exchanged a dejected glance while Azula prodded their adopted sister's back with a frustrated hand.

"Eat it, peasant!" Azula commanded in a voice akin to parental with her palm on the girl's back while she held the cooked meat before her handmaid's paling face.

"No." Elle answered in an adamant voice as she turned away from Azula's glowering face while the much taller woman hovered over her.

"Do you have any idea what I went through for you yesterday? I walked for twelve hours to search for fruit! And now I have to do it all over again while we carry your feeble body on our back!" Azula complained with a regal scowl entrenched on her red lips while Elle shrunk under her glare.

"You know, Azula. It might help if you said all of that without insult?" Ty Lee suggested with her hands on her hips.

"She isn't going to listen, Ty Lee, she never does." Mai stated as usual with a heavy sigh while she gazed down at Elle's back.

That puppeteer has been spying on them for quite some time.

She was toying with Azula.

She burned the apple tree and tricked Azula into walking back just so she could get the satisfaction of pissing the princess off.

"A-arigatou gozaimasu, Azula-sama...but I will wait for...fruit. I'll be alright...really." Elle assured in another cough while she held her hand over her chest while the princess tightened her grip on the meat stick in her anger.

It went without saying that all three women were taken aback by adamant Elle was about never wavering in her beliefs.

Even at the cost of her own health.

"Azula. This is a waste of time. We should just pack up camp and leave." Mai advised as she turned to stare down at the princess's crouched back.

"Ugh! You are a real thorn in my ass, Elle! I hope you know that!" Azula snapped before she stood up with her amber golden eyes glaring down at the curled-up girl at her feet.

"Sumimasen, Azula-sama." Elle murmured with the barest hints of a blush on her cheeks while she listened to Azula release a snort of contempt above her.

"Good. I have said it before and I will continue saying it a thousand times over. You are lucky that I like you, Elle." Azula scoffed in a haughty voice before she turned around and strode past her two childhood friends.

"I know, Princess." Elle answered in a quiet voice while the princess glanced back at her one more time before she exited the flap of the tent.

The two noblewomen exchanged an amazed glance while they watched their leader walk away.

And then they turned their attentions back to the younger girl while Elle continued to produce noisy coughs that worried them greatly.

About twenty minutes later.

The nurse stepped out of the tent before she made her way back over to where her princess stood awaiting her diagnosis.

The princess stared back at her with cold amber golden eyes while she prostrated on all fours before her pointed boots.

"Well, Shii! Out with it. What do you make of the girl's condition?" Azula questioned in a stern voice with her hands on her hips while she gazed down at the nurse's prostrated form.