"Azula is my friend," his fiancee declared firmly, "and your sister. Show some proper courtesy!"
Whatever the esteemed descendant of Sozin said in response, I never heard it, because Ty Lee finally processed what she'd just heard and, squealing happily, scooped both the princess and me into a hug. The girl's joy was very... exuberant. But it was sincere, so there was no way not to smile at such an outburst.
Suki congratulated us as well. Her smile was... how should I put it? Not exactly forced, but not entirely sincere or happy either. She had expected something like this and had given her blessing herself, but once the "approved" became "reality"... well, I suspected the two of us had a difficult conversation ahead of us. And I was going to have to try very hard to convince her that I still loved her just as much as before.
"Well then, congratulations, Chan." Iroh good-naturedly stroked his beard.
"Hmm... thanks. You weren't just trying to tell me, 'Blink twice if you're being held hostage,' were you?"
"What? No! Of course not!" the former general protested, suddenly flustered.
"Hee-hee." Watching this little pantomime, the princess giggled into her fist. "Ahem, I mean... I do not approve!" And tried to maintain her dignity. Admittedly, seeing Azula like this was unusual, but very pleasant. And judging by the looks on her family members' faces, they were somewhat bewildered too, but they approved. Yeah.
"Ahem..." The elderly firebender glanced sideways at the young lady. "This is going to be interesting..."
"And what exactly do you mean by that, Uncle?!" my lady asked, narrowing her eyes.
"That this will undoubtedly be a very interesting and promising union! The Fire Herald and the Princess. When... ahem, is the wedding planned?"
"Well..." At the word wedding, the girl finally became a little embarrassed. "I think once Ba Sing Se has been taken, we'll return to the Capital and hold all the celebrations there..."
"All right." I inclined my head. "But we shouldn't talk about taking this stronghold as though it were a foregone conclusion. It won't be easy."
"Even with the drill and, if something goes wrong, the airships?" Mai raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I don't think we have much to worry about!" Ty Lee agreed with her friend.
"Chan's right." Zuko shook his head. "Don't forget that, aside from the city's garrison, we still haven't dealt with the Avatar problem." And there he went, bringing up his favorite fixation.
"True," Azula agreed, "but if Ba Sing Se falls, he'll be left on his own. The scattered garrisons are too small to hold out for even a couple of years without the support of the Earth Kingdom's central stronghold, not to mention that the fall of the 'impregnable fortress' will have a major effect on our enemies' morale."
"Hmm..." Actually, I'd been meaning to bring this subject up for quite a while, but somehow there had never really been a good opportunity. Still, since the conversation had turned to it anyway...
"Is there something you want to say... dear?" The princess tried to make that last word sound venomous, but didn't quite pull it off. Not that she was actually trying to hurt me; rather, she was still doing that whole "keeping up appearances" thing.
At the same time, though, she had seen Mai and Zuko's relationship and, having no other examples to draw on, was reflexively imitating her friend. For all her coldness and biting sarcasm, the daughter of Omashu's governor really did seem to love the guy, and so the princess's dear came out sharp, yes, but still somehow tender, strange as that might sound. Realizing that "something was off," the girl clicked her tongue in annoyance and focused her attention on the view through the portholes.
"About the Avatar... more specifically, my, well, let's call it research into his nature."
"You mean the fact that even if we destroy him, he'll still come back?" Suki asked.
"Not only that, but broadly speaking, yes." I sighed.
"Not only that?" That was Zuko. "You have more information about him?"
"Let's put it this way... during my travels, I managed to learn a few things about the Avatar's origins and how it all began. The first Avatar, by the way, was from the Fire Nation..." And I told them what I'd learned from the goth parrot.
Why? Well, I had several goals, but the main one was to get ahead of Iroh. The thing was, while my memories were extremely vague, I did remember that the tea lover had helped the Avatar, and it had happened somewhere around these parts.
Yes, as far as I recalled, he'd done it specifically to help Zuko—the man had put everything he had on the line, casting aside his honor, his former glory, and even the memory of his son, who had died beneath these very walls a decade ago. All for the sake of the son he'd chosen as his own.
But now the exiled prince was with us and certainly had no intention of helping the little brat. Problem solved, seemingly, and nothing left to worry about. But...
(End of Chapter)
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