And we're back!

>VI: Serious Reservations
>
>"We'll figure it out. It'll be OK."
>
>Over the next few days, Rhian Lewis was to privately reconsider that
>blithe assurance a few times. Her innate optimism and goodwill
>ultimately kept her from changing her conclusion, but it was a firm
>test of those qualities, because Azula proved to be a difficult
>patient.

Rhian is, I see, learning about understatement from Laura.

>Several times they considered giving up their determination to keep
>the matter private and summoning a doctor from Otomari, the nearest
>city, but in each case the proximate crisis did resolve itself before
>they could put the plan into action. In the end, Rhian - with the
>willing support of her fellow Guides and Mrs. Arata, and the calm and
>steady hand of Sir Victor Creed always figuratively on her shoulder to
>reassure her - managed to steer her patient through the rocks; but
>always it was difficult, and doubly so on the occasions when Azula was
>at least partially awake.

Rhian got lucky. Thankfully, a few years of med school should beat the desire to be some sort of hero doctor out of her.

(I have Opinions about people playing fast and loose with medical best practices, even within fictional contexts. Admittedly, that's a bit on me, and not on the author, but still, though.)

>It was Mairwen, finally, who decided that enough was enough. On
>Saturday morning, when Rhian tried to change the bacta dressing on
>Azula's well-healing wound, Azula let her get close enough to do the
>job, then seized her arm and dragged her upright, snarling something
>through her teeth that neither Neo-Snowdonian girl could understand,
>but which was plainly hostile.

Oh, Azula. How far you've fallen. Not even clever enough to let these people nurse you all the way back to health before hitting them over the head and taking their stuff. You should learn from your brother, who would abscond like a thief in the night with valuable livestock!

>Laura sprang up from the cot Mrs. Arata had erected in the corner of
>the room after the first night, awakening instantly from a nap at the
>sound of her friend's protest, but before she could do anything else,
>Mairwen had crossed the room and delivered a full-power backhanded
>slap to the patient's face.

Azula has needed one of THOSE for years. Ty Lee came closest, I suppose. Good show, Mairwen.

><No one has ever done that to me before,> said Azula, sounding
>somewhere between astonished and sullen, as she lay quiet and let
>Rhian work. <Never. I have suffered many indignities, but no one has
>ever dared strike me in the face.>

A bit surprised Ozai never stooped to that level, really. He seems like an open-hand pimp-slap sort of disciplinarian. On the other hand, I guess his little darling never actually disappointed him enough to necessitate that.

><You earned it,> said Laura flatly. <I would not provoke Mairwen
>again if I were you. Rhian's compassion is virtually limitless.
>Mairwen's is not.>
>
><And what of yours?> asked Azula archly, regaining some of her faintly
>mocking aplomb as the scarlet patch on her right cheek began to fade.

I would have gone with the left side of her face, you know, for the Zuko parallel, but I guess Mairwen is right-handed.

>"I'm fine, it's just a bruise," Rhian told her. "I was more surprised
>than anything else. She's really strong!" Then, turning a faintly
>scornful look to her friend, she added, "And you should be ashamed of
>yourself, Mairwen Porter! Hitting a person in her sickbed like that."

Okay, I'm not precisely what you'd call a fan of the Girl Guides of Snowdonia, but Rhian is really winning me over.

>Azula had her worst fever episode yet that evening, drenching the
>bedclothes in sweat as she thrashed and clawed at the mattress in her
>anguish. Staring blindly about her, she raved throughout in her
>antique Japanese, a lurid, disjointed, rather disturbing narrative of
>blood, war, fire, ice, murder, revenge, and - weirdly - boomerangs.

Sokka's legend lives on!

Here's that Zuko parallel I was looking for. Nice.

><How much of last night do you remember?>
>
><Nothing. Or everything. It depends,> Azula replied. <It's all a
>blur, but at the same time, I felt every moment. Like balancing on
>the edge of eternity. I must have come quite near to falling off.>

Admittedly, she isn't quite herself these days, but this seems... overly philosophical for Azula, or at least, overly philosophical for her to be sharing it with someone she hasn't decided if she's going to burn to death or not yet. I dunno. It's tonally off, more like something Iroh would say.

><We are not in the Earth Kingdom,> Laura told her. <I do not think we
>are in the world you remember at all. This is the planet Karafuto.
>It has never had any nations in it like the ones you spoke of last
>night.>

Having Laura and her complete inability to elide around difficult points around must be very convenient for keeping the story moving at a brisk clip.

><My name is Azula,> she said, the pupils of her amber eyes shrinking
>to cruel points. <I am the rightful Lord of the Fire Nation and the
>53rd Monarch of the Earth Kingdom. No - more than that. With my
>father fallen, I am the Phoenix Queen. Now you will release
>me, and you will tell me where to find your masters, or you will face
>my full wrath yourself!>

Okay, I love that Azula considers herself to be Kuei's successor as Earth Queen. I've read... well, I've read a lot of Avatar fanfiction, and I've never seen that done.

I've seen her marry him a few times, even in a couple ways that made sense, but I've never seen this particular invocation before.

>It was the same story she had told in her ravings the night before,
>only delivered in a flat, calm, almost mechanical voice, like a court
>reporter reading back the stenographic record. She was, she said,
>crown princess of a place called the Fire Nation, the daughter of its
>cunning and cruel monarch, born like all their royal line with an
>elemental gift Laura gathered was akin to pyrokinesis, and which Azula
>called "firebending". Raised from infancy to carry on the family
>business (which was evidently murder and tyranny, for the most part),
>groomed as her father's heir when her elder brother had proven
>disappointingly willing to acknowledge principles of basic human
>decency, she had driven herself relentlessly all her life to live up
>to her father's terrifying ideals.

Hrm.

I know that this is a convenient way of conveying certain facts and information to Laura so that the story can move forward, but, well... Laura is being very perceptive here. I have a hard time seeing Azula, even broken and battered as she is, speaking about the Fire Nation and it's colonial wars in any way other than, say, a supremely patriotic Victorian-era Englishman would speak about the glories of the Pax Brittanica and the White Man's Burden, or an Imperial-era Japanese military officer would speak about what a great idea the Co-Prosperity Sphere was.

I know that Laura is pretty smart and all, but she's also not all that socially adept just yet, and Azula would give her a LOT of bullshit to shovel through to get at the kernels of truth contained therein.

>In the end, it had availed her nothing. If anything, she had proven
>even more cunning and cruel than he was, surpassing the very
>exemplar she had used as the model for her aspirations. Her father
>had rewarded her for this achievement by marginalizing her, pushing
>her aside on the eve of a triumph she felt she had largely
>engineered.

Sidebar: I was re-watching bits and pieces of the series just last week, and it hit me pretty hard when I saw it; that scene, where Ozai tells Azula that he has a "very important job, that I can entrust only to you" when he makes her Fire Lord?

That's precisely the sort of language you use to a small child whom you just want out of your hair for awhile. "Honey, I need you to run up the block back home and give this note to your mother. It's -very important-. Can I trust you to do this for me?"

Or maybe that's just me. I dunno.

>The next part of the story made little sense even internally -
>something about being removed from the asylum by her brother, who had
>usurped the throne that was rightfully hers in the wake of their
>father's fall, to help him look for their missing mother. The
>expedition had gone horribly wrong in a way so confusing and
>uncontextual that Laura could make no sense of it,

Sick burn, Ben. :)

>Then the gunshot - she hadn't recognized the weapon, such
>things were unknown in her world - and she knew no more until waking
>in this bed on Wednesday.

Not entirely unknown; Azula has commanded warships with cannons on them. But something that can fit in the palm of ones hand, yeah, I bet that caught her by surprise.

>townsfolk. Mrs. Arata visited daily, bringing up supplies and doing
>whatever she could to help. Sir Victor, too, was a frequent presence,
>stopping by to check in and update Laura on his inquiries.

I'll give Victor credit for this; he was probably very, very helpful when it came to keeping Azula under control. She would add him to her internal list of people not to come at unless she was SURE she wouldn't miss the second he walked into her room.

>"How did I defeat you?" Laura asked her after one such fall, while
>Azula knelt in the grass of the little meadow by the cabin and panted.
>
>"You're... so fast," Azula gasped.
>
>"Nonsense," Laura replied. "Our physical reaction speeds are roughly
>comparable, as are our builds and general fitness levels. We should
>be much more evenly matched." She shook her head. "Your weakness is
>not your technique."

Well, I mean... let's be fair here. The word "more" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Azula is well-trained, but she isn't the product of a super-soldier program like Cassandra Cain or Laura is. Without firebending she's never really going to rise to their level.

Still, it's nice of Laura to encourage her.

>"Am I not? Or are you not ready for your lies to be exposed?"
>Azula put the book down and gave the redhead a cool little smirk.
>"I'm calling your bluff, ladies. Let's see your tiles."

Ha!

In my head, Azula has been using that line or a variation thereof to get Ty Lee and Mai to do what she wants them to do for ages and ages. :)

>The first crack in Azula's façade of smirking disbelief was the
>train. The way of life and typical mode of dress on Karafuto might be
>deliberately backward-looking, but there was nothing antiquated about
>its transportation infrastructure, and it was fairly plain from her
>stories of life in the Fire Nation - told with increasing relish as
>she grew more comfortable with the people she still claimed to regard
>as her captors - that something like a shinkansen would be
>entirely outside Azula's experience.

Hmm.

I'm going to call qualified shenanigans on this one.

The Fire Nation had a well-developed rail system, such that random people were easily capable of walking up and buying passenger tickets to wherever. See here. That locomotive isn't a primitive example of the breed, and it doesn't even rely on firebending. Moreover, Azula also has experience with Ba Sing Ce's fairly magnificent public transportation infrastructure.

A modern 24th-centurty shinkansen would probably be much, much shinier and sleeker than things Azula was used to in the past, but she would, I think, take one look at it and go "Oh, that's a train. It's very big, and very fast, but I know trains. I've been on trains."

>And then there were the people. Very few looked like anyone Azula had
>ever seen, more obviously foreigners than even these three girls...

I've actually been assuming that Azula, having never seen a blonde or a redhead before, has been making semi-regular cutting remarks about Mairwen and Rhian's choice of hair dyes, and regarding with skepticism their claims as that being their natural hair color. :)

>Knowing that she only had a few minutes before someone would come
>looking for her, Azula slipped into the alcove and took a moment to
>figure out how to operate the device. It was easy, having been
>designed specifically to be quick and intuitive to operate,

I've used my share of systems that were supposedly designed to be quick and intuitive to operate. If the guys doing GUI design in the 24th century have actually managed to deliver on that score on a wide-scale public implementation like the Holonet, I tip my hat to them. :)

>Instead, though, she sighed, looked back out the window, and said
>matter-of-factly, "I think I may be going mad."

The universe as a whole had to work EXTREMELY hard not to do something unfortunate and humorous to Azula after she said that. Sadly, she was probably not all that grateful. :)

>She turned to Rhian, who was shocked to see unshed tears glittering in
>her amber eyes, and said very quietly, "This leaves me with a choice
>of two conclusions. Either some catastrophe has happened, and Dìqiú
>is no more... or it never existed in the first place, and Mairwen is
>right - I've simply imagined what I know as my entire life." She
>closed her eyes, the tears slipping down her cheeks. "You'll excuse
>me if neither choice delights me."

Hrm.

Rhian is a smart girl; one would assume she would chime in with explanations three and four; her own theory, that Azula is from off-plane, and also the possibility that Azula is from a pre-contact and/or neo-barbarian planet, of which there are a whole shit-ton in the galaxy.

Either of those would give Azula focus and purpose, both of which are things she finds comfort and meaning in.

>"Look, lady," Lefty Szoroda growled. "I know they were here, half
>this stinking town saw them. All you gotta do is - "
>
>Without hesitation, Laura stepped up behind him and seized his wrist
>on the side where he wore his holstered blaster, yanking the hand up
>behind him and driving his face into the counter so quickly that it
>happened before he even realized she was there.
>
>"Leave her alone," she hissed in his ear.
>
>"Aw, crap," he said, and then Laura went two-for-two in breaking his
>right arm. He didn't have long to reflect on the irony, since her
>next action was to haul him upright again, turn him around, and propel
>his forehead into her knee, putting him out like a pinched candle.

Oh, Lefty.

Lefty Lefty Lefty.

You'd better have gotten Vandi to pay you in advance, buddy. Seriously. It wasn't worth your time to come back here.

>"My father, his father, and his father spent their whole lives
>lookin' for that score," she said. "I found out it was here. The
>locals were worshipping it as some kind of frozen idol on the mountain
>or some goddam thing." She shook her head. "Farmers. What're you
>gonna do, right? Anyway, I hired Lefty to come get it. And what does
>he bring me instead? Some story about how he and his boys dug it out
>of the glacier, and then a Girl Scout comes along, kicks all their
>asses, and takes it away from them. Now I gotta round up all
>these guys, come here myself, and get back my property. That
>doesn't make me happy."

Okay, I don't like her as much as Lefty, but Vandi is also winning me over here.

>"Well played." Her voice broke in a choking sob. "Oh, well
>played, Avatar. Even in my ruin I can only stand in awe of
>the elegance, the totality, of your cruelty. All that time I
>flattered myself that I was your true nemesis in the great game." She
>shook her head miserably. "I wasn't even a player."
>
>Gathering her dignity, she dashed at her tears and squared herself up.
> Still addressing someone who wasn't there, she bowed her head with
>exquisite cordiality and said, as if conceding a diplomatic point,
>"Your victory is complete. I resign."
>
>Then, taking one step forward, she held her hands away from her sides
>and let herself fall.

Hmmm. Okay, I'm going to have to a bit negative here.

I don't really buy the attempted suicide. At all.

The emotional breakdown, yes. That rang true. Maybe a little bit rushed, and Azula isn't much given for that kind of... very personal sharing with people she doesn't know well (or, really, people in general) but as someone who has read a lot of fics where Azula completely shatters herself into tiny pieces that need to be painstakingly re-assembled, it mostly rang true. I think she's going to need some time to fully break from her father, whatever Laura's opinion of him sight unseen is, but still.

But trying to ice herself? No. That's not Azula, not even in the last extremity. It just, in my opinion, is not in her nature. Azula might subconsciously or passively try to destroy herself; she might try and commit suicide by battle, or retreat inside of herself in paroxysms and hate and anger and waste away into nothing. But I don't think she has it in her to deliberately try and end it, especially coming fresh off a victory and reclaiming one of the two most important things in her life (her bending.)

I suppose its possible she only hucked herself off that cliff because she figured on some level Laura would catch her, but I don't think that is what was intended. Not the author, can't be certain.

It just doesn't really work for me, is what I'm saying.

The story as a whole... it's pretty good. It is... uneven, and rushed, in places (some of it reminded me of the pacing issues LoK has displayed at times, and hopefully the comparison doesn't cause you to instantly stop taking me seriously) but it mostly WORKS and you have a really good handle on how Azula speaks and acts. It's far from the worst thing I've ever read where she's suddenly dropped off-plane and has to make her own way in a larger universe. Ironically, the most interesting people in it who aren't Azula are the villains, which given that they're mostly half-competent pirates is kind of impressive. :)

Still, not wanting to end on a relentlessly negative note...

I know that Azula's Adventures in Known Space are likely to end with her becoming a much more productive member of society than she was when she left home. Still, I love her as a villain an awful lot... and there are some fascinating resources out there in the wider galaxy just waiting for a woman of skill and cunning to seize control of them, especially during the 2300s.

With that in mind, I leave you with yet another installment of "Azula Goes To The Movies", now in its third month and showing no signs of stopping. :)

EXT. SPACE - DIQIU ORBIT

(The western hemisphere of DIQIU swims into focus, the Fire Nation archipelago
off-center in the lower right-hand quadrant of the screen, with dawn just
beginning to touch it. The camera pans up and to the left, across a sea of
stars, and a black-and-gold Imperator-class Star Destroyer, with blue
trim along the edges, hoves into view.)

INT. - BRIDGE OF THE FNS SOZIN'S COMET.

(AZULA, in the regalia of the Phoenix Queen, lounges insolently on her command
throne. DIQIU looms large on the forward viewscreen.)

AZULA
(musingly)
How peaceful it looks.

(Establishing shot across the bridge. Some of the crew are humans in proper,
paid-up Fire Navy uniforms. Many more, however, are much more disreputably
attired, a collection of adventurers, thugs, killers, mercenaries, and at least
one outright demon; FLAME PRINCESS sits in the Executive Officer throne to
Azula's immediate right. CINNAMON BUN mans the communications console, and
LEFORTOVO SZORODA is briefly on-camera standing guard at the turbolift doors. A
fire wolf sleeps fitfully at AZULA'S feet. Behind her is a modified Imperial
Fire Nation Flag, with the triflame in blue rather than black.)

FLAME PRINCESS
(eagerly)
Will you destroy them?

AZULA
(laconically)
Later. I like to play with things... before annihilation. Has my nephew
responded to my request for homage and submission?

(She sighs theatrically.)

AZULA
'Fire Lord Iroh.' How ridiculous.

(FLAME PRINCESS is about to reply when a chime sounds and a red light appears
on her command console. She consults the display.)

FLAME PRINCESS
Avatar Korra approaching, Phoenix Queen.

AZULA
(slowly)
... what do you mean, 'Avatar Korra approaching?'

FLAME PRINCESS
(helpfully)
On a Sato Rocket Cycle.

(A picture-in-picture window opens up on the viewscreen. AVATAR KORRA,
be-goggled and wearing a flight suit, is indeed approaching on a Sato Rocket
Cycle. Riding behind her is ASAMI SATO. ASAMI is wielding a primitive but
effective blaster carbine. It has fins and rings on it.)

FLAME PRINCESS
(flaring up)
Open fire! ALL WEAPONS!

AZULA
(slowly, icily)
Dispatch War Rocket Ozai to bring back the body.

I'm not sorry at all.

-Merc
Keep Rat

"Korra! Korra, I love you, but we only have fourteen hours to save Diqiu!"