Luring The Dragon

Azula Week 2019 Day 2 (Post Canon Azula)

Azula hated her room. She hated her room with passion, but what she hated the most, was the fact, that she hated the accusing looks much more, than her room. Everything had been odd and wrong, since Zuko had brought her back into the Palace. Everyone seemed to walk on eggshells, when she was present, like she would go nuts and burn down the whole Palace for no reason. On the other hand, people and staff did everything to make her realize, what she had done to them in her past. She had tried it with ignoring the whispered words and the accusing eyes, which followed her through the corridors. She had tried to ignore the pity and the blame, which she could find at every corner, but it became harder and harder, every day.

And so she started to stay in her room, every day a bit longer, up to the point, where she didn't left her private rooms anymore. Books and scrolls became her permanent company, but it couldn't cover the fact, that her mood got darker and darker, with every day of her loneliness. She missed it, to walk through the gardens with Kiyi and TyLee, she missed her training with her niece and Zuzu, she even started to miss the forced dinner and tea times with her uncle and her mother.

She had to admit, that Ursa's iron will was impressing her, because she was the only person, who looked after her literally every single day. Kiyi, Zuko and the others had already started to come less frequent, because they were tired of her cold and distant behavior and her excuses, why she couldn't leave her room, but her mother was adamant in this case and kept up the contact to her. It was the reason, why she wasn't surprised to hear a knocking at her door. It was about the time for her to show up this day and as ever, Azula refused to react at the knocking. Ursa would enter her room, anyway, so why wasting breath and energy.

Azula raised an eyebrow, as the door stayed closed. It took some more moments, before someone knocked at her door a second time. This was something new. Azula stood up from her chair and left her books and scrolls behind to observe the door. The knocking was repeated a third time.

"I could do this all the day, if I won't get an answer, because my father had taught me to wait for an invitation, before I would enter a lady's room."

Azula frowned at the gentle voice from the other side of her door. It seemed to be a male voice, but she had never heard it before. It definitely wasn't a servant or another person, who would be in service here in the Palace, no one of them would have dared to speak to her like this. The unknown person repeated the knocking a fourth time, to underline his quote. Azula decided to ignore this stranger, she was sure, he would give up sooner or later. She wasn't in the mood to meet a new face,… or any face at all, known or not.

But half an hour later, the repetitive knocking started to bother Azula. Obviously the person before her locked door tired his best to keep word. He was obviously stubborn, but Azula was stubborn too and she had no intention to loose against this person.

"I may make an exception and force my way in, when I think the lady behind the door might be in trouble."

Azula sighed and rolled her eyes. She hadn't missed the impish snicker, which was following this quote. It seemed, that she had to send him away in order to return to her books.

"I'm fine, peasant. Now get lost and leave me alone."

She was about to turn back on her chair, when the male voice made her stop.

"May the young lady be so kind and prove this fact to me?"

Azula snorted annoyed. This person started to become a pain in her but.

"You have heard my voice, this should be prove enough for you, peasant."

She tried a second time to return to the scrolls, when the concerned voice of the stranger ended this attempt.

"You may also lay under a collapsed shelve, unable to free yourself and only be to stubborn to call for help."

Azula felt a vein pulsing under her forehead, as she yelled back to the door.

"This is absolutely ridiculous!"

The dry answer came instantly.

"Due to your family and friends, it's not."

That quote elicited Azula a sarcastic snort. She crossed her arms before her chest and walked closer to the door, leaning herself against the door frame.

"My family sucks at guessing people's characters and I have no real friends."

It sounded triumphant and Azula was sure, that this would end any further conversation, but a soft chuckle made her jaw drop a little.

"Which means, that you must suck, too at judging characters, including theirs and it outlines the fact, that your 'non-friends' must have hit the nail on the head."

Azula was speechless for a moment. She could hear the snickering chuckles from the person in front of the door, which made her anger blubbering up. This person was on the best way to make her loose her temper. She felt blue flames approaching in her palms.

"Better tell me your name, peasant, because I want to know, which name I should carve on your gravestone for these insults."

Any rational thinking person would have retreated at this quote. It wasn't the words, but the dangerous edge in her voice, which transported an ultimate threat, but the person outside must be insane, because a cheerful laughter was the first response.

"I like your spirit, but it would be more threatening, when I wouldn't be sure, that you couldn't do such a thing anymore. By the way, I'm Teo."

Burning white and hot anger was the only emotion, which occupied Azula's mind for some time. How could this boy dare to speak in such a manner to her? She would teach him a lesson. Teo… an evil smirk came to her lips. This must be the handicapped boy in the wheelchair. Azula remembered some stories about him. Well, he had tickled the dragons tail, now he had to face the consequences. She would show him, how mean she could be.

"You'll curse this moment, when I'm done with you. You have no idea, how mean I can be, peasant."

Her grin grew wider and got almost wicked.

"But you may get a chance to come out alive. Amuse me, peasant. I would love to become witness of your tries to force your way through my locked door, Three-Wheels."

Azula leaned back at the door frame with a smug smile on her lips, but she frowned again, as she heard Teo clapping his hands and another joyful laughter.

"Three-Wheels, that's a great one and don't worry, I'm absolutely sure, that you still could be the meanest person in the world, I'm only in doubt, that you could still bend proper enough to burn me to a crisp. Due to your brother, you haven't trained for weeks. I bet you couldn't even light a candle anymore."

Azula snorted blue flames in anger.

"You will wish, that this is the truth, when I'm done with you, peasant, but..." Azula took a deep breath to come down a bit, returning to her smug smile. "… but first you must make it trough my door."

She heard an impish snicker.

"How about a deal? I prove you, that I can make it through your door and you'll come with me to one of the trainings places here and let me watch one of your trainings, to prove me, that you still can bend proper. Do we have a deal?"

The boy seemed to have guts and Azula liked this fact. He had definitely caught her interest.

"Alright, deal. Now I'm curious, how you'll manage to break through my door."

Azula heard a ruffle and the metallic clicking sound of some instruments.

"I have never lost a word about breaking your door, Princess."

She heard him working at the lock of her door for some seconds and the door opened. Teo was behind it in his wheelchair with the brightest smile, he could put on. He wheeled in, passing a baffled Azula and took a look around.

"A really nice room, but I would go nuts, when I would sack in here for weeks."

He turned his wheelchair to the table with the scrolls and brought himself closer. Teo started to browse through the scrolls, completely ignoring Azula, who still stared with open mouth at him.

"Ahh, here they are, like your servants have said."

He took some scrolls from her desk and placed them carefully in the transport cases, before he stocked them in his wheelchair.

"What in Agni's sake are you doing, peasant?"

Finally, Azula had found her breath back. Teo gave her an excusing smile.

"Oh, sorry. I think I should explain myself a bit. I need these scrolls about the campaign against the Air Nomads for my work, here. Your brother plans to rebuild the temples one after another and I was hired by him to help with the planning. There are a lot of paintings and descriptions in these scrolls, I could use as references."

Azula crossed her arms before her chest, again and scanned the smiling boy. He came closer to her, still smiling at the Princess.

"But now for the deal, you have promised to let me watch one of your trainings lessons."

Azula's face got an sarcastic expression, as she huffed a little.

"You should have known, better, peasant. Azula always lies."

Teo's face got serious. Azula noticed sadness in his eyes and… worries? Why did he looked at her like this.

"Maybe, but you're lying to yourself, too. You're running away from something instead of facing the problem."

A dangerous flicker came back to Azula's eyes. How could he dare to speak in such a manner to her? How could he dare to cross so many red lines, unasked. He was about to wheel out of her room, when she stopped him, by grabbing a handle of his wheelchair.

"What do you know about running, anyway?"

It should be a dirty punch from Azula, as more she was surprised by Teo's reaction. The eyes of the teenager were burning with a bright fire.

"A lot more, than you, I think."

Azula couldn't suppress a laughter, but she stopped, as she recognized, that Teo kept cool and serious.

"Oh yeah, Princess, the crippled peasant knows something about running, for obvious reasons. I cannot run away from my handicap. Running away cannot be a strong suit of mine, so facing problems and finding solutions is more my cup of tea."

He pushed her hand away and wheeled out of her room, stopping a last time at the doorway.

"Once I heard form a strong and clever Princess, who was able to conquer Ba Sing Se on her own, by leading a Coup d'État. I really hope, that I can met her one day, because I think she might be a really interesting and fascinating person."

Azula's moth stood agape at his words. Teo sighed heavy and turned back to her with a warm and hopeful smile.

"I'll be here for some weeks, so I hope to meet her sooner or later. It would be wonderful from you, when you would look out for her, too."

He left her room, passing the corner of her doorway and disappearing out of her sight. Azula stood in the middle of her room. Teo had caught her completely off guard. She looked at her palms and lighted up a flame on it. When had she started to become so anxious about herself. When had she decided to skip her training and lack her practice with her bending, she loves so much. When had she become so predictable, that a stranger would be able to see through her, so easily.

Who were this Teo, anyway and why did he wanted to know her better? A little curse escaped her lips, as she closed her hand to a fist.

Teo was on the way back to the office, which would be his working place for the next weeks, when his wheelchair got turned around and pushed into a new direction. A mischievous smirk came to his lips, but he was cut off, before he could speak up.

"Not a word, peasant."

The smirk grew to a bright smile and he turned back to Azula, who was pushing him towards the trainings places.

"I hope you would join me and take a look over my first plans and sketches for the restoration of the temples. I would love to hear your suggestions and opinions, because you know a lot about the old scrolls. And by the way, nice to meet you, Princess Azula."

Azula rolled her eyes.

"I don't think, that… wait, why did you said that?"

She stopped for a moment, facing the smiling teenager in confusion.

"Well you are Princess Azula, aren't you, but now you finally started to act like her."

She gave him a piercing look, which made Teo chuckle. She started to push his wheelchair, again.

"Never mind. By the way, you should take a look at the works of the poet Zing-Hue, he is much more accurate and detailed about the temples, otherwise you won't come close to the original, in my opinion."

For the first time it was Teo, who took a surprised gasp, which brought a victorious smirk to Azula's lips. The teenager mustered the Princess with new interest.

"That's what I have hoped, Princess Azula. You're full of surprises."

He grabbed in his bag, which was hanging at the side of his wheelchair and pulled out some scrolls.

"Which work of him, would you recommend more, 'The Beauty of Roses and Jasmin' or 'Linking Heaven and Earth'?"

Azula raised an eyebrow. This boy kept on surprising her.

"It would depend on your focus. For gardening and decorations the first one, for architecture the second, but the best and most detailed descriptions of all the temples are in his last work, 'The Travel of a Broken Heart'."

Teo blocked the wheels of his wheelchair with his hands and turned to Azula with widened eyes.

"This one was forbidden because of its… delicate content. Even the Palace library hasn't got an exemplar of it. How do you know, that..."

An almost dirty smirk came to his lips, which let Azula light a flame threatening close to his face.

"Choose your next words very carefully, peasant."

The smug smile stayed, while he wiggled his eyebrows. Azula felt her cheeks flushing.

"I might have searched for a potential compromising present for my brother in Ba Sing Se and the Dai Li got one exemplar for me, but Zuko left Mai and joined the Avatar, before I got the chance or the need to use it against him."

Teo's smile remained.

"So you have read it, too."

Azula's cheek have turned into a deeper pink.

"I had to check it, whether it would really suit my plan or not."

Teo's face returned to an almost provocative seriousness.

"Of cause, you had."

Azula snipped his ear, causing a little blue flame passing his cheek.

"Last warning, Teo."

The bright smile of the boy managed to make her lips curve up, finally. Suddenly, he placed a hand on hers on the handle. He squeezed hers for a moment, before he placed the scrolls back in his bag.

"Okay, warning received, Princess Azula."

She gave him a satisfied smirk, before they walked on to the trainings place.