10 Azula and...

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Waters of the Land of Fire.

A lone ship was heading in the direction it wanted to go, ploughing through the expanse of the sea, unaware of the obstacles in its path. It was a dark night, with only the lamps and distant stars illuminating the sea and the deck of the ship. The wind was howling, the waves were crashing noisily against the sides. An unremarkable night on a Fire Nation ship.

Lee calmly did his work. As he paced the corridors, moving from deck to deck, skirting the edges of the sides, he looked out to sea, searching for perceived enemies. Lee knew that the ship was close enough to the lands of the Fire Country that there should be no enemies here. However, it was not them he feared, but rather the wrath of the princess whose ship he had been ordered to guard. The soldier took his duties as a patrolman seriously, not without the help of his fear of the creepy princess.

Continuing to circle the territory entrusted to him, Lee counted the minutes until dawn, which was when his outfit would run out. Turning left, he expected to soon meet up with an acquaintance from the group of soldiers who were the first to go on night patrol duty. As it happened, Lee soon saw another soldier walking towards him coming out from around the corner.

- What's the situation? - Chan, Lee's friend and good acquaintance, was the first to speak.

- All clear. You? - Lee answered his friend calmly.

- All clear.

- Shall we continue patrolling?

- Yeah, it's still a long way from dawn. Lee, be careful, especially when you pass the princess's quarters, - Chan decided to share important information.

- What is it?

- Just, she hasn't gone to bed yet. Stay alert. Don't get caught in the act. I don't want to see if she'll throw a man overboard for any offence," Chan explained to his friend, worried about his fate.

The rumours among the people varied, but all spoke of the princess's harshness, and in some places terrible cruelty. These rumours were only confirmed by Azula's gruesome speech, made in front of the entire ship's crew when they were just about to set sail. Lee had met harsh bosses and was used to a lot of things, but the princess made him want to get away, the young girl was too scary and creepy.

- Do you think she meant what she said back then? - The answer for Lee was an ominous silence.

- I hear you, I'll see you at the meeting.

- See you at the meeting, and take care of yourself.

Lee continued his patrol, going round another part of the ship. Everything was calm, the same sea, the same wind, the familiar corridors of the ship. However, when he came to the corridor that led to the princess' quarters, he stopped and remembered his friend's words. A light was visible in the tiny window of the door that blocked the entrance to the princess's quarters. It was impossible not to notice it, as all the other windows were dark. Thinking over the situation again, he turned his head, trying to get rid of unnecessary thoughts. He's a soldier, he's on duty, he'll do his duty!

Having made his decision, he continued on his way. He needed to get to the last door of the corridor, and straight back.

- R-r-r-y... - hearing a low growl, he froze in place.

His heart thumped loudly, making him want to swallow, and a drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, hidden by his helmet. Standing still and listening to the silence, he didn't know what to do next.

No, it was all nonsense, there was no one in the princess's quarters to growl, he must have imagined it. It was the rocking, yes, it was the rocking. Convincing himself of this, he quietly moved on, trying to make as little noise as possible. Reaching the door, he quickly examined it, it was locked. Turning around, he quietly walked back out the door as well.

- Slap! - Lee heard a slap just outside the door to the princess' quarters. Freezing in place once again, holding his breath, he tried to quickly think through the situation and decide what decision was best to make.

"Perhaps someone has snuck into the princess's quarters and is doing something right now. I could knock and check, but if no one is there and the princess is minding her own business? No, nonsense. The door's locked from the inside, no-one could get in. Unless there was a confidant... a traitor? No, no, it's best not to think about it. If there's a traitor in there, the princess is dead and I'll be killed as a witness. No, there's probably... her lover!... Or she's doing something definitely important! Yes, that's it! I don't want her to get in the way. And if there's an enemy in there and the princess is dead, I won't open the door anyway, I'll only make a fuss, maybe the traitor will be executed, but I'll get the same. What if there's a secret lover? Or something a common soldier shouldn't know, I'll be eliminated as an unwanted witness! I'd better leave, let someone else try to wake the princess in the morning and find out. Of course I'll get it both ways, but at least not now, but later, later is better than now!" lightning-fast stream of thoughts of patrolman Lee, interrupted by another terrible sound.

- R-r-r-y...

"Fuck that! The army didn't prepare me for this!" - were the silent Lee's last thoughts before he left the creepy corridor leading to the dreaded princess's quarters without anyone noticing.

Returning to his patrol of the ship, he was no longer willing to go anywhere near Azula's quarters.

(***)

The same day, a few hours before midnight.

The red rays of the sunset reflected off the sea surface, on which a lone ship was travelling, distinguished from its fellows by its rich trimmings, and some pompous details that screamed, this ship was carrying a very important person!

It was Princess Azula's own ship, and now, after a tiring day of training mixed with study, she had locked herself in her cabin for a long-awaited rest. That's what all the people on the ship thought, but in fact the princess continued to go about her business without even thinking about sleep.

I sincerely apologise,

For all the offences that have been done to me

For all the wrongs I've done in my daily life,

For all the wrongs I've done

I sincerely ask forgiveness

For all the evil I've done to you,

For all that has hurt your heart

And brought you grief.

"Not bad, but I don't feel remorse, you just pasted lines from various poems without penetrating the feelings they carry. That's not enough for my forgiveness!" - replied the demon in an arrogant voice, making the princess furrow her brows angrily.

- What didn't you like about this one? I've reread a third of the book already! I came up with the fourth verse! How many times do I have to do this kind of nonsense to beg for your forgiveness?! How hard is it for you to forgive me?! - The princess angrily replied, feeling with every fibre of her soul that she was wasting precious time at the whim of a demon. And Azula hated wasting time that could have been used to improve her talents.

Closing the book, the princess irritably throws it on the table, falling exhaustedly onto her bed. This nasty parasite that had taken up residence in her body had a way of siphoning off all the girl's strength, leaving her mentally devastated. Perhaps she hated him more than anything else in the world! With all her cruel heart, Azula wished the spirit to know everything bad and evil in the world!

"I've already said, you're a fine actress, but that's not enough for me. There is no emotion in your poems, they don't touch my heart, but I am pleasantly surprised that you were enough for a third of the book. I think you can be rewarded for your efforts," the demon spoke in a satisfied voice

- Encouragement? What are you doing? - The girl was wary of the Spirit's satisfied tone.

"Nothing to be so wary about. It's just that I'm ready to answer some of your questions, and I think I've accumulated quite a few of them since we met. But only some of them, not all of them, not all of them. We have plenty of time, so take your time and ask," the spirit explained in a calm voice, making the girl rise from the bed with his words.

Azula quickly realised that this was her chance to find out more pertinent information about her opponent, but asking too direct questions was fraught with disclosure. So she decided to start from afar, as far away as possible. After all, even the smallest details about the demon's identity could play a crucial role in her game.

- Why me? Why did you possess me?

"You don't want to waste time reading poetry, but you use time for questions like these? Don't try to look stupid, you're not good at it," the spirit replied grudgingly, but afterwards continued more calmly.

"Oh come on, I promised to answer. It's simple, strong genes, position in society, strong magic and a young body. The only thing I don't like about you is your femininity. Besides, I didn't have much choice, and time was running out, but I'll keep quiet about that until a better time. I hope I answered your question?" - The spirit finishes in a calm tone, telling a minimum of safe information about herself. Azula was glad for her as well, especially after so much humiliation as well as wasted time.

- Femininity? - The princess wondered, or just pretended to, not fully understanding where the problem lay here.

"You see, I'm used to thinking of myself as a man and I want to keep it that way. Therefore, the female body is not the best option for me. Don't think I'm sexist, women have plenty of advantages, but living in a woman's body is not something I want to do, because with the advantages come disadvantages. You should be well aware of that, shouldn't you?" - The hint in the spirit's words was large enough that there was no possibility of misunderstanding it.

- It is gratifying to hear that such a small thing has helped me in my life..." the girl replied dryly, indulging in a less than pleasant memory.

Yes, she was familiar with such shortcomings. In the Land of Fire, the Fire Master was never a woman, even among the highest military ranks there were no women. She lived in a patriarchal society where men played a major role in any endeavour, rather than women. She had to work harder than anyone else to get the reputation she had now. Her gender had gotten in the way of a girl's ability to do many things, so she had to be stronger, faster, smarter, and many times tougher than the men around her.

"What else are you interested in?" - A spirit voice brought her out of her inner musings. Azula instantly remembered her goals, forcibly pushing silly thoughts with memories out of her head. She gathered herself and asked a very important question.

- 'Conquering the blue flame,' the girl reprimanded, inwardly hoping the spirit had nothing to do with it.

"It has nothing to do with me. Your fire is a combination of your hard work, study, good genes, better Qi, and a crumb of genius. Well, that ritual has helped you to reach your full potential, though to me, you're still far from the desired ideal, but you're already a head and shoulders above most fire conquerors of the modern era. However, I can only judge from your sparring with other masters. Didn't I mention that they didn't show much skill and were mediocre to me?" - The spirit replied as if nothing had happened, belittling the fire conquerors' skill level, but Azula heard something very important in his words.

In the week since the ritual, when her fire had just changed colour to blue, she had been able to see firsthand in numerous sparring sessions that her fire was far more powerful than that of the other conquerors. In a direct confrontation, the blue flame always won, crushing normal fire and stunning her opponents with its blast, even if they had time to defend themselves with their own fire.

The blue flame made her stand out among all the fire conquerors and was much stronger than ordinary fire, it would be unpleasant for Azula to part with it. It was a source of pride, specialness, genius that made the princess stand out among all the fire conquerors. The girl was unwilling to give up such a factor that exalted her above all other mages.

Now that the spirit had admitted that it had no relation to this fact, she could make plans to destroy it without doubt and without fear of consequences. The latter particularly pleased the princess. However, she in no way allowed the spirit to even guess at her thoughts. Completely in control of both her body and her own emotions.

"Anything else?" - The spirit lazily continued, waiting for her questions.

- Yes, why poetry? Why poetry? - In the indifferent voice of a master of intrigue the girl continued the conversation.

"Oh, it's simple, I wanted my forgiveness to be special for you. So I chose to make it as complicated as possible, giving you a direction into a world of poetry that is completely unfamiliar to you. A world of the beauty of words and rhyme."

- I have to admit, spirit. This is the most useless pastime I've ever engaged in in my life. Did you take pity on me and not think of a more... subtle punishment? - The princess replied with some sarcasm, wanting to tease her interlocutor.

"Are you asking for it? Poetry is the mastery of a word, a sentence, the design of a thought. The beautiful multifaceted language of people speaks of a developed culture and complex interactions, thanks to which mankind is able to surprise even the gods. People who do not have a command of words are disgusting. I believe your people call them barbarians? In any case, this is your punishment for bad behaviour, take it well!" - he replied, in a slightly irritated tone.

- 'Ha... ah yes, you can't see me from the outside, then let me tell you: I rolled my eyes,' the girl replied, actually rolling her eyes.

"Good sarcasm, well done. But we've veered off topic. Do you have any more questions for me?" - Was not at all hurt by her interlocutor, remaining completely calm.

- Who are you?

"I think I've said before, you require my forgiveness to answer that question. To you now, I am merely a spirit or punishment for sinful actions, both yours and your kin's. It doesn't matter," - the interlocutor brazenly avoided answering, ignoring all written and unwritten rules of decency. However, Azula could not physically hold him accountable or punish him in any way for such insolence.

- Why Piandao? - was the next question of the princess, who remained calm, fulfilling her plan to study her enemy as best as possible.

"Hmm..." the spirit pondered, probably contemplating his answer, "I'm relatively familiar with him, but he doesn't know me. And so... just a whim, with a desire to get you to leave the palace. You've guessed it yourself, haven't you? But the reasons for my actions are deeper than you realise, and I doubt you would understand if I told you about them now," the spirit spoke, putting his thoughts into words in a strange way that was almost impossible to understand.

- If you have something to say, say it. You're not good at philosophical intrigue, you're not good at it. You remind me of my uncle, that loser and fantasist.

"You've become more natural in your behaviour, sarcasm, insults... that's good. As for your question, being surrounded by servants and raised in the palace has done you a lot of harm, I want to fix that," the spirit explained the possible reasons.

Exactly possible. Azula didn't really believe the spirit's words. She thought he just wanted the princess to be alone so he could deal with her more easily. But even this theory was questionable, because of the lack of information about the spirit, its goals, personality, and desires. However, the latter was clear to the girl, he didn't even hide it. The only question was, was it intentional?

- In this our views diverge, - without unnecessary emotion replies the girl, taking note of the new information from the spirit.

"Really? I don't think so. Being surrounded by servants and schemers alone, as well as a disgusting upbringing, has made you extremely uneducated in any social sphere of interaction. Your hopes of lying with fear are foolish and empty, with such an approach only defeat awaits you."

- That's funny. That approach has never failed me yet. It's doubly funny coming from a disembodied creature. Maybe if you had used such methods, you wouldn't be in such a bad situation trapped in my body. - Azula said the main question, hiding the true purpose with sarcasm and a slight sneer.

The spirit was silent for a bit, and afterwards answered the following:

"Interesting opinion, but I think you're getting too far off topic, or are you enjoying chatting with me so much?".

He didn't notice the double bottom in the sentence.

To the princess, it was a resounding success. With a couple of phrases she realised that the person she was talking to wasn't very good with words, and if she talked to him, he would give out a little extra information about himself.

With his response to her sarcasm, the spirit hinted that he couldn't leave her body, while also stating that he wasn't good at intrigue and fear-mongering. This added to the information she had to the personality portrait she was creating. Weak in verbal altercations, not good at subtle manipulation, not strong in intrigue, but quick to find out the weaknesses of his opponents, rudely and brazenly using them to his advantage.

- You haven't shown yourself to be a worthy interlocutor," as she continued the conversation, she didn't give the spirit an extra second to realise her mistake, deftly diverting the topic of conversation.

"Ah yes, perhaps I was being overly disrespectful to someone of your stature, but you should have been flicked on the nose. Excessive arrogance for a mortal that will inevitably die. I couldn't resist. I should apologise, but not now. I don't suppose you have any more questions you'd like me to answer for this evening?" - His companion replied, annoying Azula with his arrogance and cheery voice more than usual.

- Perhaps... no," the girl replied, thinking of discreet ways to get more information about herself out of the spirit. And such ways were found!

"Are you going to bed?"

- "No, I'm going to read something really useful before bed," the girl got up from the bed and headed to her desk, next to which was a chest of various books.

"What other books did you bring besides poetic literature?" - The spirit wondered, unaware of Azula's true intentions.

- 'Keep watching and you'll find out for yourself.

"Too suspicious, did I really make such a good impression on you? Or are you up to something?"

- Don't flatter yourself, you don't know how to make the right impression....

Azula sat down at the table, taking out a few books from the chest. They were quite valuable books: advanced maths, advanced physics, mechanics, chemistry... and other books she was studying, trying to be the best at everything.

Azula's goals were simple. She wanted to test how educated the spirit was, while finding out even more details about his personality. As the top student of the Capital Girls Academy, the most progressive country in the world, she was confident in both her genius and her education. Her belief that she would have no problem fooling the spirit by being smarter than it in everything was absolute. After all, how could the spirit know of the progress her country had made? All this made the princess overconfident. When she was confronted with the truth... she couldn't accept it.