I should have tried to kill her after all.
That thought unexpectedly flashed through my mind a while after meeting the mercenary. A cold wind blew a moment later, forcing me to focus on my breathing technique to stay warm. Thoughts of the mercenary were immediately pushed to the background...
Two days passed completely without incident. The only drawback was that, despite her excellent physical training, Princess Azula was unaccustomed to long treks. She had simply rubbed blisters on her feet. For that reason, we had to stop more frequently and rest a little longer. The Princess confessed that she usually traveled long distances in a palanquin or, if the weather was poor, a carriage. Prolonged journeying on foot was new to her. In fact, many things about our journey were new to the Princess. She had never before left the borders of the Fire Nation. At most, she had vacationed with her family on some resort island. She hadn't even visited the colonies. Commanding a squad of soldiers was also a first for her, a fact Azula volunteered herself. Simply walking all day was, frankly, boring. So, the Princess initiated a dialogue after a time.
Conversation between us didn't flow easily. At most, we exchanged a few phrases per hour, and then continued the journey in silence. It was simply difficult for Azula to talk to me. I assume that, firstly, my status as a near-commoner was an obstacle, and secondly, she couldn't imagine what we could possibly talk about. I was older than her, and we came from vastly different backgrounds. But even through brief dialogues, I tried to make a positive impression on Azula. I didn't overplay my hand, nor did I try to fawn over, flatter, or pander to the Princess at every opportunity. That would have been too familiar to her from court life — I would have been indistinguishable from the crowd of sycophants and servants in the Fire Lord's palace. I wouldn't have made a good impression.
On the third night, when we were scheduled to reach the nearest small town by the following afternoon, we were attacked.
I was roused from my dozing state by the sound of a body hitting the ground — someone had tripped over my trap — followed by quiet cursing. Instantly leaping to my feet, I immediately threw my knife in the speaker's direction. I heard a choked gasp.
The ground beneath us began to ripple, but I managed to keep my footing. This move woke Princess Azula, and soon we were standing back-to-back. Within a couple of seconds, fire danced around us, revealing that we were surrounded by enemies. The Princess didn't hesitate and immediately attacked the nearest opponent. Quite successfully, judging by the screams. As I tried to figure out what our enemies were waiting for, the ground beneath our feet suddenly vanished. It happened so fast that I only had time to be surprised by it. We were about to fall into a deep pit when I grabbed Princess Azula by the hands and began to slowly descend on jets of flame.
At that very moment, the enemy made their next move. I heard a sound like spitting and, an instant later, I felt several needles pierce the fabric of my clothes. With the remnants of my consciousness, and with the now unconscious Azula, I managed to land safely on my feet, avoiding the worst-case scenario: that the needles might embed themselves deep in our bodies from a bad fall. After that, all light and sound simply disappeared.
...
I woke up because of the loud voice of one of the guards, with whom Princess Azula seemed to be attempting to negotiate.
"Shut it! If you offer me your dirty gold one more time, I won't care that the Captain wants you alive for interrogation, and I'll quietly strangle you. I don't want your gold! Not even ten times my weight in it! Fire Nation soldiers killed my…"
While the exchange between the guard and the Princess continued, I took a look around. My body was restrained by numerous chains and locks. There were so many that I felt as if I were encased in a cocoon. This was an unpleasant surprise. Getting rid of all of them with Firebending would take a considerable amount of time. My elemental magic simply couldn't reach the locks; they weren't touching my body. This meant I would have to heat and cool the same chain repeatedly until it snapped, which would definitely not be silent and would attract the guard's attention. I lacked the concentration to simultaneously heat and cool all the chains on me at once. I would simply lose control of the temperature and roast myself alive.
The Princess and I were in separate cells, but they were clearly visible to each other. One of the walls was made of thick bars, spaced so narrowly that my fist could barely fit through. Each cell was assigned a guard. Mine, however, despite the noise from the other, was peacefully sleeping, slumped back in his chair, snoring and drooling onto his Earth Kingdom soldier uniform. Unfortunately, I didn't spot any keys on the sleeping guard that could open the locks on me. His comrade didn't have anything like that either. He flashed past my cell as he was expressively waving his arms and pacing back and forth.
I had to recall my old skills.
My first acquired ability responded extremely sluggishly. The sensation was akin to having a third arm that had fallen asleep, its blood flow cut off. Glancing at the sleeping soldier, I concentrated on my telepathy/telekinesis. Probing the locks with it, I calculated whether the strength of my weak psychic power would be enough to press the mechanism and turn it. I heard a barely audible click, muffled by the cursing of the Earth Kingdom soldier who, it seemed, had lost all his loved ones to the Fire Nation. I noted that my telekinesis had somehow grown slightly stronger. I felt I could do much more with it now. It was intriguing, but I would think about it later, under more favorable circumstances.
Even with the increased strength, I had to operate at the absolute limit of my capacity. After turning just the first lock, I was already drenched in sweat.
By the fifth lock, I was ready to pass out from mental fatigue, but I ultimately managed to remove all seven locks. My lips, tongue, and the inside of my cheeks were bleeding; I had bitten them to stay conscious. After resting for about twenty minutes and feeling somewhat recovered, I began to cautiously and quietly, as quietly as possible, remove the chains. Again, I had to strain my far-from-omnipotent telekinesis to slow the chains' fall, ensuring they made the least possible noise.
The chains were removed, and I leaned against the wall for five minutes, breathing raggedly. But I couldn't delay any longer. The conversation between Princess Azula and the soldier was slowly dying down. She hadn't managed to bribe him. He turned out to be an incredibly virtuous person, even though the Princess had promised him literally tons of gold. Perhaps the guard simply didn't believe Azula possessed it. In the entire conversation, there had been no mention that Azula was of royal blood. I hoped our captors were unaware of this fact.
Checking that the soldier was still focused on the Princess and continued to pay no attention to my cell whatsoever, I went to the door and placed my hand against the keyhole. Telekinesis was slightly easier for me this way. Another click sounded. I immediately slipped out of the cell and stunned Azula's guard with a fireball shot directly into his face. Before he could recover, I broke his throat with a punch. The soldier collapsed to the floor, eyes bulging. The sleeping guard stirred in his chair, but was quickly killed. People don't live with their heads turned that far around.
Exhaling tiredly, I pulled out the hairpins, the dummy lockpicks I had taken earlier from Azula's toiletry kit, for show. I bent them at various angles and slipped them into my trouser pocket. I then easily opened Princess Azula's cell using Firebending. And practically tumbled into it, nearly falling to the floor.
"The sleeping draft or poison is still affecting me," I explained in response to Azula's surprised look, wiping the blood streaming from my nose.
"Perhaps they used a bit more of the toxin on you than they gave me," she said, noting how sweat was pouring off me.
Azula, like me, was wrapped in a complete cocoon of chains and was just lying there on the floor. Finding the first lock, I began to heat and cool it.
"Princess, how was your sleep as a captive of the Earth Kingdom soldiers? Better than in a smelly sleeping bag?"
"Are you still holding a grudge about that? Seriously?"
"Not at all," I replied, flipping the cocoon so she was face-down. "Forgive me. The lock is on your back."
"Did I ever mention that you won't die of natural causes?" Azula's voice sounded quite muffled.
"Oh, challenge me to an Agni Kai in about two years," I said. I think I just found a way to leave this world. "I would be honored to die at the hands of a Master Firebender and a Princess of my beloved nation."
"Definitely, if I don't kill you sooner."
"You still need me, Princess."
"You greatly overestimate your usefulness," she snorted.
Opening the locks by manipulating the temperature took longer than if I had used the force of my telekinesis. I just didn't want to use it. I felt that employing that power again would definitely guarantee a collapse.
Eventually, the chains were removed from Azula. She stood up unsteadily. She took a couple of steps and fell right onto me. We both tumbled to the floor. Azula was lying on top of me. Her lips were almost touching mine.
"Princess, this isn't the Cave of Two Lovers," I reminded her. I was unusually talkative today. Perhaps it was the small adventure we found ourselves in that had somewhat alleviated my boredom and lifted my spirits.
"The chains on my legs were pulled too tight... And you promised you wouldn't recall the moment in the cave," Azula's gaze became menacing. I wanted to clarify that it wasn't one moment, but several, but I held my tongue. Any more, and she would have killed me right there. But I noticed not only her warlike look but also the slightly reddened tips of her ears. That surprised me.
Azula realized I had noticed her embarrassment and... became even more flustered because of it. She got off me, muttering that it was too soon to kill me and that I was indeed necessary for the moment.
"At the very least, your tongue can always be cut out," the Princess quietly whispered to herself.
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