34 First Flame 12

"Things are progressing smoothly your highness, better I dare say," War Minister Qin stroked his beard pridefully as he boasted about their progress, "We are ahead of schedule, in perhaps a week at most at the rate things are going and we will be completely ready to advance upon Ba Sing Se."

Azula resisted the urge to roll her eyes and set his stumpy little beard a blazing blue, 'Yes, yes, I already know this you buffoon.' she huffed internally. She'd already long since instructed the main engineer's working on the Drill to report progress directly to her each night since she'd arrived here, you know, the smart and pragmatic thing to do, instead of listening to some up jumped doddering old fool who literally knew nothing of the construction.

She wondered idly though, when did she reach the point where hearing of the greatness of their plans and being submissively kowtowed and kept informed by usually such proud and arrogant nobles, became so annoying to her?

Usually, she would not bother speaking to mere engineers, and let fools like Qin here report what she needed to know. Really, she'd just come to admire the idea of getting straight to the point with brutal efficiency, no dancing around the subject or topic.

'…Oh…' she blinked as she realised, and resisted the urge to sigh as a familiar, cocky, broadly built boy appeared in her head. Zan, of course.

Her fingers flexed in agitation and she found herself grinding her teeth for a moment before realising what she was doing and putting a stop to it.

Of course it was his fault. She'd been taken in by his own brutal efficiency in going about things, especially in the way he fought, there was no dancing around blows with him and wearing an opponent down, he just took his opponents attacks head on if it allowed him to get his own in, shrug off their own with a vitality and endurance that left her breathless at times and crushed his opposition.

"…Your highness?" Qin's confused voice broke her from her memories and Azula quickly composed herself.

"Yes, good work, keep it up." Azula tossed the mutt a bone and he outright preened at her 'praise'.

Disgusting. Where was his pride as a man? Puffing up like some Puma-Peacock over such small words from a girl a fraction of his age.

Still, he could be of some use she supposed, "Has there been any word on the…" she ran her tongue across her lips as she looked for a fitting word, "Traitors?" she ended up deciding on.

"Of Dragon Fist Zan?" Qin inquired.

Who else would she be inquiring about? Certainly not Zuzu and that fat old Iroh.

"Yes." Azula held back the urge to backhand him for his idiocy.

"I did receive a rather concerning report on the boy," Qin scowled. He reached into his tunic and pulled out a scroll, "I would have reported it sooner, but such a plebian is clearly unworthy of your personal attention your highness."

Her fingers flexed once more, blue embers glittering along her fingers, before Azula reigned in her anger, "Do not deign to decide what is and what isn't worthy of my time War Minister Qin," she snapped at him instead, snatching the scroll from his hands and pushing herself up out of the throne-like seat prepared for her in the viewing room at the front of the Drill, "Next time you do, I'll have you whipped till you cry like a little girl, understood?"

Qin's eyes went wide with horror, "Y-yes your highness!" he quickly dropped to his knees and prostrated himself before her, "This lowly one understands, he promises not to make the same mistake again and thanks you for your generosity.

The only reason she didn't spit to the side at his pathetic act right now, was because it was unseemly for a princess to do so.

"Don't think you are getting out of this without punishment though," Azula added scowling, "From now on, you are no longer allowed to refer to yourself as a man, am I understood?"

"Yes, this thing understands!" Qin nodded his head vigorously in agreement, despite the fact it was face down on the metal floor of the massive vehicle they were in.

There truly was nothing masculine about this wimp, was there?

"I'm returning to my quarters, make sure I am not disturbed." Azula ordered, and without waiting for the fool's reply, she tread over his prostrated body on the way to the exit of the room they were in and made her way through the Drill to her quarters.

Once she closed and bolted the door behind her, Azula made her way over to the large, luxurious bed prepared for her and sat down atop it and immediately unrolled the scroll and began reading over it.

It was simple, and to the point, a minor skirmish all things considered. Dragon Fist Zan had been sighted in New Ozai and had a brief fight with some of the soldiers there, who were soundly defeated by an overwhelming display of incredibly powerful fire bending, and then he proceeded to make one of their new war balloons disappear, and escaped the city alongside Ty Lee using the Flame Jet Propulsion technique, using it to fly straight up and over the massive walls of New Ozai.

Azula took a shuddering breath as she finished reading and placed the scroll on the bed beside her, "…The jet propulsion technique, that is a technique even I am struggling with." she sighed. The sheer amount of Chi the technique used up, combined with the strain it put on her body when used, had made for quite the trying technique to master.

Admittedly, he'd used the basic version of it to flee from her and Mai with Ty Lee, but she didn't know he was that advanced with it.

To think Zan had already mastered it to that degree. The only one she knew who could do such a thing, was her father, and perhaps, after what she'd seen of his real capabilities, her uncle. A dreadfully short list.

And the technique itself wasn't all that simple to begin with. Focusing on multiple continuous streams of flame, altering their direction and keeping an eye on where they were propelling you, while keeping it under control, was not at all an easy task.

Zan was clearly a master Firebender like herself, though that was a given considering their brief bout. And as he had shown multiple times, his body was incredibly powerful and durable.

"Tch." Azula clicked her tongue, hands falling into fists. As galling as it was to admit, Zan was her better, maybe not in pure technique, but in fighting ability nonetheless.

Especially because he hadn't at all shown what he was fully capable of. This disappearing nonsense they spoke of in the scroll, it was clearly some ability to store things, perhaps in the spirit world or some nonsense like that, it wasn't hard to deduce. And it answered a few questions, like where all the weapons in New Ozai's barracks had gone, and that one tundra tank that went missing, and Zan's mongoose lizard mount which had disappeared as well.