"Well? Aren't you going to say anything? 'Thank you,' for example. I'm not your mail carrier!" Azula jabbed again, her words dripping with venom.
"Yes... thank you," the prince replied with a nod.
The response left the princess utterly dumbfounded.
She looked Zuko over from head to toe, then glanced at Iroh, cast a suspicious look toward Toph, and finally turned to me. Apparently reaching some conclusion, she shook her head and focused on the prince once more.
"Well then, I've delivered the message. As far as I know, you still have your ship. You can make it home on your own—you aren't a child anymore. And your uncle will help you, won't he?"
"Of course." The rotund man nodded amiably, though there was unmistakable wariness in his eyes.
"Home..." the former exile murmured dreamily. "Wait. What about the Avatar?" the prince suddenly asked, snapping back to reality.
"The Avatar is one of Father's assignments, though not one of the primary ones," Azula replied. After a brief hesitation, she continued as though somewhat reluctantly. "Still, if you're not in too much of a hurry, you could join me. We'll capture him and deliver him to Father. Together—as befits Sozin's heirs."
...All right.
I officially gave up trying to understand what was happening anymore.
The princess was clearly plotting something, and judging by the look of things, she'd already dragged me into... whatever it was. Or was about to. And there was almost certainly no talking my way out of it. Palace upbringing, with its endless intrigues and schemes...
Yeah.
I had to admit, it was fascinating—and certainly kept the blood pumping—but my brain was genuinely starting to melt.
"So you followed him to Omashu as well?" Zuko asked. He hadn't agreed, but neither had he dismissed the idea outright.
"No. Chan merely suggested that this was the most likely destination. Judging by the looks of it, he was right?"
"Yes." After a brief hesitation, Zuko finally shared what he knew. "My men and I have been tracking him for the past three days. He left the coast, so I had to leave the ship behind with part of the crew. After that, his trail led us here."
"Excellent. That's very good news. Will you join me? Together, we won't leave him any chance!" Zuko still hesitated. "Besides, I'm sure Mai would be happy to see you," the princess added, finally playing her trump card.
"Mai? Is she with you?" The prince immediately began scanning the "crowd of girls" for her.
"No, but she's in Omashu at the moment. Her father has been appointed governor, and she's there with him. I was planning to recruit her into my unit."
"All right." The prince nodded once more. "Simply returning home and returning home with a gift for Father are two very different things."
"Wonderful. I'm glad we'll all be together again, like one big happy family."
Strangely enough, there wasn't a trace of her usual venom in those words. By the end, Azula had even smiled.
Now everyone was stunned.
Iroh looked first at the prince, then at the princess, and finally shot me a distinctly suspicious glance.
Seriously, why was everyone suddenly looking at me like that?
I barely had time to finish the thought before Toph, standing beside me, gave me a sympathetic pat on the back and even nodded solemnly for emphasis. Meanwhile, Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors maintained the kind of perfectly understanding poker faces that somehow managed to say everything while they all pointedly looked anywhere except at me.
What the hell was going on here?!
"Y-Yeah... me too," Zuko replied awkwardly.
"Good. And to avoid any confusion over who's in command, I propose that we appoint our esteemed Herald as the leader of our combined force," the princess said with a thoroughly devious smile.
And in that instant, I fully grasped just how deep the hole was that a delicate young lady's hand had shoved me into.
"I have no objections," Zuko agreed almost without thinking.
"And what do you say, Herald?" As though I had a choice.
"It would be an honor, Your Highnesses." I bowed. "General Iroh, I hope you'll continue to favor me with your advice, as you have before." At least give me some kind of lightning rod, you bastards!
"If you ever require my counsel, Chan, I will always be at your service."
"Then it's settled." I did my best to suppress a heavy sigh, though I'm not sure I succeeded. "In that case, we'll make camp. Toph..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
Grumbling theatrically, the girl—who I knew absolutely loved leaving people speechless—set about "building the camp," dropping our new companions' jaws right along with the rising stone walls.
***
Once everyone had introduced themselves and retired to their respective "houses," I went looking for my trusty human lie detector. It probably would've made more sense to speak privately with Zuko first—or with Zuko and Iroh together, or even just Iroh—but before any of that, I needed to figure out what Azula was plotting and what all those bizarre feminine pantomimes had been about. And for that, Toph was indispensable.
Unfortunately, the girl couldn't help me much.
When it came to the pat on the back, she flat-out pleaded ignorance.
"I was suddenly overcome by an unbearably irresistible urge to cheer you up!"
That was all I managed to get out of her.
Well, that and a steady stream of smug grins and snarky remarks.
As for the princess, she hadn't lied in a single word she'd spoken. Yet the sheer range of emotions packed into her statements—and, more importantly, the nature of those emotions—left even Toph utterly bewildered. There was simply too much tangled together to make sense of what had truly been driving the princess.
One thing, however, was beyond doubt: everything Azula had said carried a second meaning, if not a third. That much had been obvious to everyone involved in the conversation.
Well... everyone except Zuko, perhaps, thanks to his inexperience with court intrigue—though even that wasn't certain. Besides, he had Iroh, and his uncle would undoubtedly enlighten his beloved nephew.
Hmm… Iroh...
Now that was an idea.
Taking a small tin of White Dragon tea from my personal stash, I headed off to pay the Grand Lotus a visit.
(End of Chapter)
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