The Sun had set a short time ago. Azula sat curled up on a bench in the Garden courtyard of the Palace. Overlooking the newly constructed Turtle Duck pond, a stone fountain in its center spraying water up and down into the pond. Azula glanced around, the bushes were livelier, beautiful roses freshly bloomed. The grass neatly trimmed sending that wonderful smell into the air. She had spent the best parts of her childhood in this Garden. Running around with her bother and friends laughing without a care in the world. Those days were long gone now leaving her somber.
She had skipped Lunch, she had skipped dinner as well, the only meal she had were the few jars of preserves she had packed when she fled from her home. At the time she had wondered why she had brought them, but now she was glad she did. She doubted anyone here would have wanted to dine with her anyways. Azula sighed as she looked up at the night sky, stars hung twinkling in the darkness, maybe they judged her too.
Hearing footsteps on the grass she turned to see an older man, his gray hair pulled into a ponytail, a well trimmed beard on his face, partnered with a mustache. He wore a red short sleeved shirt, red pants, and black shoes. Azula recognized him immediately. He was Noren, her moth- Ursa second husband. Just someone else she had wronged. "I..." Azula stood up. "I was just leaving." She said.
"No wait." Noren said raising a hand. "Don't leave on my account, the Garden was made to be enjoyed by all."
Azula hesitated and took a half step back, but then stopped. Slowly sitting back down on the bench. She watched as Noren walked across the garden and sat down next to her with a sigh. "Ursa and Kiyi told me what happened."
She should have known this was coming. "I swear I didn't know your daughter was in there." Azula said rapidly. "I just...I didn't think anyone would care."
Noren looked at her and smiled. "I understand Azula." He said softly. "The situation was a misunderstanding. I don't blame you." Didn't blame her? He should blame her, he had kidnapped his daughter once before, what would make him think he wouldn't do it again. "What do you think of the garden?" He then asked as he looked over the turtle duck pond.
Azula paused. "It's lovely." She said.
Noren nodded in agreement. "It is, your mother put in a lot of work trying to bring life back into this garden. I think she did a wonderful job. But my opinion is a biased one." He said with a laugh. "You Mother always had a way with botany like no one I had ever seen. That woman has a real green thumb."
As a child Azula could recall her mother spent almost all of her free time in the garden, preening the bushes until they were perfect to her standards. Azula had thought she had enjoyed doing it and sure that played some part of it but it wasn't until Azula was a few years older when she realized the true reason why Ursa spent so much time out here. This had been Ursas escape from Ozai, an escape from a life she had never wanted.
"Why?" Azula asked her lower lip quivering. "Why are you being nice to me?"
Noren sighed. "Zuko told me the type of person your father was...not everything you did is your fault. I'm not saying your free from any blame but...in some small way I understand you." He smiled. "I want to see the good in you." He smiled at her.
Azula suddenly felt uncomfortable, here was Noren, the father of the child she had kidnapped. Giving her a chance, an actual chance. "I...want to change, I've been changing for years..." Azula broke eye contact and looked out over the pond again. "When I was a Princess I had everything I ever wanted...except for my mothers love. I think deep down I knew my father never loved me either...there was only one person who seemed to love me...and I screwed that up."
"Who was that?" Noren asked.
Azula stared at Noren, wondering wether it was right to be this vulnerable. "His name was...Is Sung. I knew him since I was a little girl, he was Zukos friend but he spent a lot of time here when we were growing up. The last months of the war we had a...romantic relationship if you could call it that...I mean we were just kids then...but I knew he loved me, I screwed it up. I use to think it was him that abandoned me but maybe it was I who abandoned him...I want to talk to him so badly, but he keeps running off on errand's for Zuko."
"I don't know if this helps but I knew your mother since we were children." Noren began. "Even back then I always knew she was the woman I would marry...it took a little longer than I had planned on but here we are."
"I doubt he'd have anything to do with me after all this time." Azula said. "It's probably for the best, after all of this is over he'll go back to Sun Dao and...I'll go back to Izui, we both have our own lives to live."
"Do you really believe that?"
"Yes." Azula said without a second thought. "No....I don't know. It's complicated I guess."
"Love is like that, I'm not going to say what you should or Shouldn't do but if it's meant to be it's meant to be." Noren said seeming as if he wished he had more that he could add. Azula was caught off guard by his hand on her back. She tensed up at the contact. "About your mother...I think she does love you...in her own way. Just stay the course you're on and give it time." Noren then stood up. "I hope you have a goodnight Azula. "And if you ever need to talk, I've always got an ear."
Azula didn't know what to say. "Thank you Noren...and...I'm sorry about....before...about what I did to your daughter."
"I know you are." Noren said softly. With that she was alone again. Alone with her thoughts.
*
"Are you sure about this?" Sokka asked Sung. Before leaving Ember Island they had traveled to the other side of Ember City, where one of the Veteran Halls that had become so popular were he didn't know if it was common but this building in particular was a two story design, the outside decorated with Fire Nation banner flags in two rows on either side of a walk way leading up to the front door. The doors were open and men and women of varying ages walked inside, though there was a larger number of men than women. "If what that Duru guy said it true then this could go south real fast."
"No I'm not sure." Sung replied. "But I want to at least see what it looks like on the inside. Any bit of information we gather now could help us in the long run."
"You shouldn't go in there alone though." Ty Lee said, grabbing him by his arm. "It could be dangerous." That was definitely a strong possibility, when Duru found something out it was rarely if ever false information.
"I'm sorry but last I checked the sign on the door says Veteran's hall." Sung. "Are either of you two Fire Nation Army Veterans?"
"I kind of was." Sokka said causing both Sung and Ty Lee to turn. "Well Wang Fire was...but he's "dead" so...I guess that wouldn't work" Sokka trailed off.
"Did you kill him?" Sung asked straight faced.
"No." Sokka quickly interjected. "It was just a cover named I used a few times when we were hiding in the Fire Nation...never mind."
Sung frowned but said nothing. Instead he removed his cloak and his sword belt. Handing them over to Ty Lee. He then snatched his flask back while she was momentarily distracted. "Sung no!" She tried to say but before she could he unscrewed the cap and...dribbled some of the drink on his clothes. With the last of drink gone he threw the flask the metal vanishing in the night. He then took his hands and messed up what hair he still had and finally he untucked his shirt. He was trying to portray himself as a common drunk down on his luck. From the look on Ty Lee's face he had succeeded.
"You two kids stay out of trouble now." Sung said with a smirk as he spun around and walked towards the Veterans hall. Joining a line if others trying to get inside.
The line was slow going and Sung soon saw why. Just inside the building a grey haired man stood, looking people over. For the most part he let people through without so much as a glance, though a few he did stop to talk to, but he couldn't hear what they were saying. Then when Sung approached the man held a hand up. "You know where you are kid?" The man asked.
"I....assumed this was a Veterans Hall." Sung responded, trying to sound as if he was confused by the question.
"Well then you're smarter than you look, never seen you here before. You a local?" The man asked.
"No, I'm on Ember Island on vacation." Sung replied. Not a lie that was hard to believe.
"Uh huh..." the man said. Waving a hand in front of his face. "Where are you from originally then?"
Sung scoffed. "You want my mothers Maiden name too buddy?" He asked. "Maybe you wanna know my shoe size while you're at it." Sung turned to see who was behind him. It was a middle aged woman. "Can you believe this guy?" He asked the woman before looking back.
"Listen buddy." The man said in a stern tone of voice. "We get a lot of liars trying to get in here trying to get some free help, this is for men and women who served their country. We ain't a temple."
"Well theeeeen." Sung said adding s few extra e's to this response. "I'm assuming I'm in the right place, I'm a Veteran."
The man looked less impressed by the second. "Look a little young."
Sung frowned. "I lied about my age and enlisted I served two tours in the Earth Kingdom . I'm just as entitled to help as you are pal and I definitely won't have you calling me a liar." Sung pointed an accusatory finger at the man who had suddenly become red in the face.
The man sighed. "Okay kid, what unit did you serve with?"
This is where Sung would change his history up, he certainly wasn't going to tell them he spent the last year of he war in the Royal Procession. "Third Army, one hundred and ninth Ranger Battalion, five hundred and fifty ninth long range reconnaissance company." His last unit before his transfer.
The man actually seemed somewhat impressed by that. "Third Army huh?" He asked. "That was under General Bujing wasn't it?"
"No, General Kang commanded the third." Sung replied, he realized the man had asked a trick question, more than likely trying to see if Sung was lying.
The man smiled now. "Didn't mean to give you the third degree kid, like I said we get a lot of liars in here trying to get a hand out. Welcome home, Ranger." The man then stepped to the side "by the way what was your Rank, just for my own curiosity it's not part of the questioning or anything like that."
"Private first class." Sung replied, the last thing they needed to know was that he had been a General, they would know who he was then more than likely, we'll that or they'd think he was lying.
The man smirked and pointed at himself. "Lieutenant Colonel."
Sung snapped to attention, preforming the traditional Military bow. "Forgive my disrespect Sir, I didn't know."
The man let out a laugh, now suddenly much friendlier and seemingly happy to have someone acknowledge his Rank again. "Don't be sorry kid, you had no way of knowing...hard to tell who is who without our Uniforms." The man let out a growl at that. "You can think our so called "Fire Lord" for that.
"Ain't going to get any argument from me sir." Sung said. "When the war ended I cut my topknot off." He said lying through his teeth about the actual reason. "Felt like everything I had fought for was for nothing, all the friends I lost were for nothing...we were betrayed." Now that bit wasn't a lie, it made it easier to speak.
"Son if you stick with us we'll get you your Honor back." The man said sympathetically. "You'll be able to wear your topknot with Pride again." The man then nodded. "Go ahead and go on inside Private, there's some food and drink in there free of charge. Help yourself while you wait for the meeting to start."
Sung gave a nod and walked further inside. Truthfully I wasn't any different from any town hall he had ever been in, the room consisted of polished wooden floors. Chairs lined in rows with a walkway in the center. At the far end of the room was a stage with a podium. Behind that podium were Fire Nation flags, some of them seeming to be battle flags made for individual units.
Some of the chairs were already occupied by people but a vast majority were spaced about the room, in conversation. More specifically they were crowded around a series of tables with trays on them. These trays held finger foods such as chicken on a stick, grilled shrimps, rice balls, and a few desert options. Trying to blend in with the crowds Sung made his way over to the tables and picked himself out a single Chicken stick, it was then he realized he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. That single stick soon turned into three. It wasn't the best thing he had ever tasted but it was better than nothing.
"Hey new guy." A feminine voice called out from Somewhere. During mid chew Sung looked around the room, seeing the woman who had been standing behind him make a beeline for him. Holding the stick in his mouth Sung pointed at himself. "Yeah you."
"Can I help you with something?" Sung asked, giving his best Sunday smile.
"You made quite a show outside just now, one might say it was disrespectful." The woman said sternly.
Sung's smile faded. "Sorry, wasn't my intention to ruffle any feathers. I hadn't eaten since yesterday."
She poked him in the chest. "That isn't an excuse, you're a Fire Nation Soldier, act like it!" This one definitely had a drill instructors feel to her.
"Hey Momoka, leave the guy alone huh?" From the left a man approached, wearing a popular style of Ember Island wear not to dissimilar to what Duru had been wearing. "The guy just said he hadn't eaten in a day."
The woman now known as Momoka scowled at the new comer. "Ah Lieutenant Yagi, should have guessed you would have come to this street rat's defense, you Rangers act like you're better than the rest of us."
The man now known as Yagi scoffed. "Don't pay the Master Sergeant here much mind. She's still upset she missed the only piece of action the Domestic Forces got to see during the war. Spent her service playing prison guard...oh and if I remember correctly it was at a prison with the highest number of escapes of any prison in the Fire Nation."
Momoka narrowed her eyes at the two of them before storming off, vanishing into the crowd. "Don't even know why they let the Domestic Forces come to these events. They were barely Solider's." Yagi mumbled before patting Sung on the back. "Not like us eh Ranger, we were always in the thick of it!" Yagi gave a proud smile.
"Yes sir." Sung replied with a nod.
Yagi smiled bigger. "Where all have you been boy?"
Sung paused for a moment. Using the excuse of him chewing to come up with a response. "I was at Kretin, and Wan Hill. I don't know if Kretin counts if you're counting where I have been as a Ranger, I was regular Army then."
Yagi smiled only grew "fighting is fighting boy no matter who you were with at the time. I was at Wan Hill myself. Nasty bit of business that was. Tell me, do you have nightmares about it?"
Sung pulled away at that. "Sometimes..." he admitted.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I had them more often than not myself. But the Veteran Hall helped me." Yagi said with a smile. "They have support groups here every week that help, it's a place where there is no judgment." His smile vanished in an instant. "Which is more than I can say for anything Zuko has done for us lately. How many of our brothers have to sleep on the streets? How many of them have been cast aside? How many of them were victims of crime?" Yagi shook his head. "Things like that didn't happen when Ozai was on the throne.
Sung cleared his throat. "That's a little...treasonous isn't it? To talk like that I mean?"
"It's not treason if you never had any loyalty to the head of state to begin with." Yagi said. "Don't worry boy, law ain't going to bust down the doors for a few heated words. It's a new era of "peace and prosperity" after all." The sarcasm wasn't lost on Sung, if this place was playing host to a rebellion it was certainly playing host to a lot of talk they could get you in trouble if the wrong people heard it.
A military style drum beat sounded and all conversations stopped. Yagi's smile returned. "The meeting is starting." His tone conveying his excitement. "Better grab you some chair."
Sung complied, taking a seat close to the back as the doors were closed. That made Sung nervous, especially as two men stood on either sides of the door in Firebender guard stances. He didn't have time to calculate this as he heard someone shout. "Group, attention!" With pure military instinct Sung and all those who had been seated stood up, heels clicking together as an older man in robes like what a General would wear approached the Podium.
The old man gave a nod to the room. "Be seated." Sung and the others sat down. He immediately got flashbacks to those dreaded meetings he had taken part in during his Military career, in those days it had been Officers in a room talking about things they already knew with no real progress. "I'd like to welcome you all to our bi weekly meeting, it brings joy to this old man's heart that I see a few new faces in the crowd tonight. For those of you who don't know I am Yūma Tsutsumi, Major General retired. I am the post Commander for this hall."
Sung had vaguely heard of the name Tsutsumi but he hadn't ever met the man or even knew what unit he commanded, all Sung knew was that he was old fighter from Azulons day. "First off I want to think our lady warriors for their commitment to the charity drive, just this month we raised over three hundred copper pieces that will surly go to a good cause. Second I want to think Major Yamashita for his own generous donation of fifteen gold pieces. I know it doesn't sound like much but every coin helps." There was a round of claps before Tsutsumi raised a hand to silence the crowd. "Next off I want to remind you all that next week is our Wounded Warrior awareness meeting, all are welcomed to attend as always."
Hearing this Sung started to think that maybe for once Duru had been wrong, or at least Sung sure hoped they was the case. Paranoid people like Duru had a tendency to jump at shadows some times. "Now that we have our announcements out of the way...I want to talk about something serious." Tsutsumi lowered his voice, pausing for a moment before slamming his fist on the podium. "Sacrifice!" He shouted. "We as Soldiers and Sailors of the Fire Nation have known the meaning of Sacrifice better than any others, we bled for our country, we fought for our country, and for many unfortunate souls who could never be with us today or any other day...we died for our country!"
"We fought and died for the Fire Nation across the globe, and just as our victory was secured our so called "Fire Lord" betrayed us all and sided with the ENEMY!" Tsutsumi slammed his fist down again and there were a few shouts of agreement in the background. "So tell me Sons and Daughters of fire, what was the point of our sacrifice?" Tsutsumi looked over the crowd. "WHAT WAS THE POINT!"
"Nothing!" Sung heard someone shout as the crowd was beginning to get worked into a frenzy.
"That's right!" Tsutsumi shouted pointing at whoever had shouted. "OUR BOTHERS AND SISTERS DIED FOR NOTHING!" More shouting followed. "For our sacrifices "our" Fire Lord cast us aside. He gave us a pension that couldn't even get us through a week let alone a month, for many of our injured brothers and sisters who are disabled to the point they can't work and their only source of income is the pension!" Tsutsumi picked up a piece of paper from the podium, crumbling it and throwing it on the ground. "I ask you all is your Fire Lord, Zuko?" He asked.
"No!" Many voices shouted at once.
"Who is your Fire Lord?" Tsutsumi shouted.
"Ozai!" Many voices shouted again.
"Who is your Fire Lord?"
"Ozai!"
Sung realized quick this wasn't just loyalty to Ozai, this was blind fanaticism, less of a group of people and more of a Cult, and Ozai was their God. The strong hand that would guide them to a brighter future. Or so they thought. It shouldn't have been a surprise, for one hundred years Fire Nation men and women had raised their children to swear undying allegiance to the Fire Lord, that generational brainwashing didn't just go away.
Tsutsumi gasped loudly as he wiped his brow. "Brothers...sisters a war is coming, a war in which we, the true Sons and Daughters of fire will rise from the flames and bring order to the chaos, not just here. But to the Earth Kingdom, to the Water Tribes. To the world we will reign supreme over the world! As was foretold to us by Fire Lord Sozin!" Tsutsumi looked right at Sung. Not just in his direction. "Zuko's days are numbered." He pointed at him and eyes suddenly started to look in his direction with rage.
*
From off to the left Sung heard the fall of boots. A man with black armor slowly walked forward, two swords strapped on his back. The sides of his hair shaved leaving only enough for a topknot The man stopped, turned showing one of his eyes was covered by a patch and Sung's blood went cold. "Kurn..." Sung said standing up.
"Lord Yang..." Kurn said, his voice empty of any emotion. "It's been a long time. That's when Sung saw it, people in the room began to tense up, preparing for a fight. But how? How could Kurn be here? It couldn't just be a coincidence. "It's been a long time Son." Sung didn't respond, he took a step back. The two guarding the door blocking his way. "I heard you were back in the fight, honestly I was surprised...you didn't seem like you had it in you to fight any more."
"For the Fire Nation I will always fight Kurn." Sung replied.
Kurn smiled. "So will I, I have fought for this country since I was your age. I'll be damned if I see everything I fought for taken away from our people. Zuko is not the true Fire Lord...Ozai is."
Sung somehow knew that talking was out of the question, at any moment Kurn or someone would give the order and he would be crowded. Sung Exhaled, spinning his arms. Electricity beginning to spark off of him. With Two fingers Sung shot his left arm forward and fired a blast of lightning. Kurn side stepping it and letting the lightning hit the wall and explode, sending debris and smoke everywhere. Some people unlucky enough to be close to the wall were thrown out of their chairs.
That was the only order the others needed to attack and people began to rise out of their seats to face him. Sung spun to face the door and cupped his hands together and bent his elbows, with an exhale he opened his hand and shot them forward a plume of roaring red fire leaving his hands. The two who had been guarding the door diving out of the way as the doors exploded outward. The frame of the door catching fire.
With an exit established Sung took off running out of the building as balls of fire flew all around him, those inside counter attacking. Reaching the street Sung stopped mid stride and looked around for a moment. Sokka and Ty Lee were still where he had left them. "RUN!" He shouted as he turned to face his attackers.
He threw his left fist, followed by his right, then his left again. Each time a ball of red fire went sailing towards the fanatics who had begun piling out of the building. He didn't wait to see if he had hit anything as he turned back and started running again, going as fast as he could, catching up with Sokka and Ty Lee as they ran together.
"What happened?!" Ty Lee shouted as they turned around a corner.
"Don't want to talk about it now!" Sung shouted back. Behind he could hear them giving chase, some of them shouting but he either didn't hear what they were saying or he didn't care to hear.
Sung could hear the roar of fire approaching from behind and Sung stopped and turned again bringing his left arm up to cut through the fire. He countered with a quick combination of Fire fists. Three balls of red fire flying through the sky, one hitting a man in the face and causing him to fall backwards hard. He had plenty of others to take his place however.
"Sung, leave them!" He heard Ty Lee shouting from further down the road. He cursed and turned back around running to catch up. "Follow me!" Ty Lee then shouted. "We'll lose them downtown!"
Ty Lee turned down a side street, a narrow one at that, Sung wasn't keen on the idea but Ty Lee knew Ember Island better than he did. He could hear them growing closer. Ahead he saw on stilts a water tower meant to supply one of the restaurants in the area. Just as they were passing by Sung threw a fire fist at one of the towers legs, concentrating a narrow blade of fire to cut through the beam and causing the tower to tilt backwards, it's weight and momentum causing it to fall, the tower cracking open and spilling water into the alleyway. The tower itself collapsing into the alleyway blocking the path behind them.
Despite this they continued to run, more than once accidentally crashing into some unsuspecting pedestrians who was just trying to enjoy their night on the town. They passed down Main Street, and into the edge of Ember city. Only then did they stop. Catching their breath.
Sung sucked in air by the gallon, sweat pouring down his face and soaking into his clothing. His lungs felt like they were on fire. "W-what..." Sokka gasped. "H-happen?" He asked as he put his hands on his knees.
Sung exhaled sharply as he leaned against a nearby wall, the cool stone feeling like heaven against his back. "K-Kurn was there." Sung Said, "He knew we were here."
"How?" Ty Lee asked as she pulled out one of her fans and began swaying it to put a breeze on herself. "The only ones who knew we'd be here were..." she seemed to be naming off people in her head before realization flashed on her face. "...Azula...she ratted us out."
Sung looked at her. "Hold on." Sung said. "It couldn't have been her?"
Ty Lee closed her fan and pointed it at him. "After everything she has done how can you still defend her?" Sung asked himself that very question.
"Because I think she has changed." Sung said as he slid down the wall and sat on the ground. "This isn't her style anyways."
"You're saying ambushes aren't her style?" Sokka asked, dumbfounded. "You must be thinking of a Different Azula." Sung could see that he had a point.
"Let's just think for a moment." Sung pleaded. "Why would she go through all the trouble to stage her own kidnapping, come to the Capital and then throw everything out the window for this? It doesn't make sense. She would know we'd suspect her the second it happened, which is happening right now!" Sung said.
Ty Lee grumbled. "He...has a point. When Azula is involved she plans out every detail to the letter, she would of had people waiting for us in the streets, on the rooftops, anywhere someone could hide."
"Well if she didn't do it then who did?" Sokka asked. Looking between the three of them. "The only one we know for certain we can't trust is her. Everyone else is beyond suspicion."
Ty Lee went pale. "They had to of had someone in the Palace keeping tabs on Zuko. There has to be a Spy somewhere in the Palace."
"But who?" Sokka asked. "We talked outside, there wasn't anywhere for someone to hide. Unless they were hiding on the roof."
Sung forced himself to get up, his legs groaning as his weight was added back to them. "We can't talk about this now...." Sung said looking back the way they came. "Those people are still out there somewhere, and they are probably heading this way, we need to get back to the Capital and warn Zuko as fast as possible. He needs to know what happened." But a question came to Sung's mind, what if he was wrong about Azula. What if she had been involved in this somehow? He hoped to the Goddess herself that he was wrong. He prayed harder on this one topic than he had ever prayed in a long time. The thought that he could possibly be wrongs scared him.