Iroh flitted back and forth through his new tea shop like a little child. “Did you see these tablecloths?” He handed her one with hand-stitched fire ferrets on it.

  “A bit on the nose, don’t you think?” Azula said.

  “What’s on the nose?”

  “FIRE ferrets?”

  "They’re indigenous to the Earth Kingdom,” he answered. “Besides, I like the way they look.” He didn’t wait for her retort before he drifted away. He hummed as he straightened some chairs.

  She was half-tempted to walk over and continue the debate, but she refrained. This was her uncle’s moment, and very few good things had happened to them in the past few years. Maybe this was the turning point? She should relax and enjoy it.

  “How is my new investment doing?” Quon said, entering the shop. Azula stiffened, eying him warily. Though he'd honored their agreement, she always held in her mind that he'd tried to kill her simply to remove the evidence. This was not a man to be trifled with. Quon picked up the tablecloths and rubbed the stitching. "I like the design. Who would have thought to put fire ferrets on them?"

  Iroh gave Azula an I-told-you-so look (she rolled her eyes in return) before he walked over to Quon and bowed. “When you said that I could have a new shop in the inner ring of the city, I never thought it would be this spacious. The kitchen is especially nice.”

  “Only the best for the finest tea maker in the city,” Quon replied.

  “You deserve it, Uncle,” Azula said. She surprised herself to find that she was smiling. Joy filled her breast.

  “I told you, Jade,” Iroh said. “If you work hard and stay honest, the universe rewards you.”

  An icy blast of guilt replaced the warm joy. She gave Quon a dark glance from the side of her eye. “Yes, you did tell me that.”

  For his part, Quon was enjoying her being discomfited. “Yes, she mentioned that you were a good man, a good man. I, for one, think the world needs more of you in it.”

  “Really?” Iroh said. “When did she tell you this? I don’t think I’ve seen you say two words to one another.”

  Azula could’ve killed Quon at that moment, but that would've given everything away. She sniffed. “Honestly, Uncle, it’s not like you see me every hour of the day. I bumped into him in the market when we moved to the upper level.”

  Iroh studied them both. She could tell he was suspicious.

  “Well,” she said, “I’m going to walk around for a bit. See if you can avoid destroying the place.”

  She ambled out of the shop and into the broad, busy street. The businesses up here were nicer and more spread out. Judging from their fine silk clothes, the clientele was certainly richer. She frowned, missing the poor, middle-class, and refugee populations that she and her uncle had used to serve. Maybe she could convince him to go down there every so often or open a shop or something. She’d already sent some money from her heist to help the most destitute families she'd met down there. They'd reminded her of the people who'd helped her along the way.

  A paper floated down to her in the late morning light. She idly grabbed it out of the air and started to read. As she did so, she raised an eyebrow. The Avatar was requesting help in finding his flying bison. She knew who had the animal: the Dai Li.

  "Anything important?" Iroh said, walking out of the shop.

  She crumpled the paper in her hands and threw it onto the ground. "Only someone looking for a lost pet."

  Iroh nodded. "Quon has been quite helpful."

  "Would that all rich men were so," Azula said.

  "It's fortunate that he took such a keen interest in us."

  Azula could hear the leading edge to his voice, but she wasn't about to play into it. "You always say that good things happen to those who wait."

  "I do say that," Iroh said, a note of exasperation in his voice. "I never thought you believed it."

  In her experience, the only time positive things happened to her was when she made them happen. "Do you need something?"

  "What did you do, and does it have anything to do with reports of the 'Red Spirit' from a few weeks ago?"

  It was unusual for Iroh to be so direct. Azula was immediately placed on the defensive. "I don't know what you mean."

  "Young lady," Iroh said, eyebrows furrowing. He crooked his finger and pointed it at the ground. "You will answer me this instant!"

  No one had ever spoken to her like that. Azula's eyes grew wide with anger and not a small amount of fear. "H-how dare you! I am not some—"

  "NOW!"

  Azula almost choked on her words. "I...I might have...please don't be angry with me, Uncle." That frightened her more than anything else. So few cared for her. She couldn't bear it if he hated her, too.

  Iroh pinched the bridge of his nose. "When will you learn? For every action, there are repercussions."

  "I made sure no one would know."

  He shook his head. "Even one as clever as you cannot foresee all ends. That's why you should have kept your head down and let the universe show its benevolence."

  "Benevolence!" She laughed bitterly. "We've been at the cold mercy of implacable fate for years now. If it wanted to give us something good, it would've done so much sooner. I merely...pushed things along."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Iroh sighed. "You always have an answer, but you never listen."

  That retort stilled her response. She closed her mouth and glared.

  His angry face softened. "At this rate, you'll never become the sweet niece I know you could be. I see glimpses of her."

  "Stop calling me 'sweet.' Nothing can make me a good person."

  Iroh grew playful. "Ah, but is 'good' a disposition or an action?"

  Azula breathed a sigh of relief. Mischievous Iroh she could handle; angry Iroh she could not. "Both, I should think," Azula said, after some consideration. Where was Iroh going with this?

  "Do the latter," Iroh said, "And often you become the former. There’s an old saying: Agni won't speak to us until we can speak to him face to face."

  "You're speaking in riddles, Uncle," she said.

  "It means, become the loving young lady you were meant to be, and you will find peace."

  With that, he reentered the shop and began arranging things. Azula shook her head. Loving! How could she be loving? She'd just tried that with Quon, and Iroh hadn't approved.

  Azula's eyes fell on the crumpled paper lying on the ground. The Avatar's bison. Aang and his band of scalawags had saved her uncle once. She was in the boy's debt. Perhaps saving the flying monster was a way to even the scales. Was that a loving thing to do? Or was it loving to serve her nation? Her life was all so very confusing!

  ***

  That night, she slipped out of her new apartment, which was much larger than her old one, and made her way into the market. A Dai Li agent was patrolling the street. She gritted her teeth. In the lower levels, they were lucky if a few regular guards were seen. Here, the rich were guarded by the most powerful force in the city.

  It was late, and the streets were deserted. This would be the best time to attack. She hid in an alleyway, donned her Red Spirit mask, and ran at the Dai Li agent from behind. Just before she hit him, she punched one of his pressure points. It was the only one she’d learned from her friend Ty Lee, and it affected him at once. He grunted in pain before his entire body locked up.

  She shoved him into an alleyway. He tumbled into it. She dragged him behind some barrels. Once there, she stabbed his arm with a shirshu-tipped dart. The man fell to the ground, unable to move more than a few muscles around his mouth.

  She picked up the bladed spear that she’d hidden and sauntered over to him. “I have some questions for you. If you’re smart, you’ll answer them honestly.”

  ***

  To his credit, the agent had given her good information. That was the positive side of threatening someone from an organization as corrupt as the Dai Li. They were easily persuaded. They were holding the bison in their most secure facility under Lake Laogai.

  She blindfolded the agent and hid him in an abandoned sewer. By the time he regained mobility, she would be long gone from the facility. She'd warned him that if she found out he’d lied, she would simply kill him. She doubted he had lied to her. She'd learned how to recognize true fear.

  She followed other agents into an underground entrance, which led to a facility underneath the giant reservoir. It was bare and surprisingly well-lit. It was hard to sneak around a place like this, but she would do her best.

  Rumblings of a great fight started coming from the other side of the facility.

  She spotted a bald, thin man with a thin mustache that drooped down the opposite sides of his thin mouth, along with a thin sliver of facial hair dangling from his chin. He imperiously barked orders at the men around him. She sneaked toward him. He was obviously the man in charge.

  "The Avatar is here! I warned him what would happen if he attacked me," he said. For one so skinny, his voice was deep and rich and menacing. He pointed to two men. "Go, kill the bison. The rest of you are with me." He and his men ran toward the sound of the fighting, while the other two ran in the opposite direction.

  She raced to help the bison.

  ***

  The door was already open when she arrived. Inside, the two agents were preparing to kill the giant, hairy, white creature. Its six legs were chained to the walls. They raised their hands to earthbend. The bison strained its mighty body to back away from them, but to no avail. It backed into the wall of the prison and fearfully roared.

  She threw a dart into one of them, paralyzing him, but she wasn't fast enough to hit the other. He rolled out of the way and earthbended a section of the floor at her. She ducked under it just in time and threw darts a second time. He blocked this attack as well. He waved his hands, and large chunks of earth tried to pulverize her. This foe was dangerous!

  She leaped in close and swung down with the blade of her spear. He screamed as it severed his hand from his body. She swung the haft of the spear into his head. The man's scream was cut short as he fell, unconscious. She threw a dart into him just to make sure. It might slow the blood pouring out of his now-handless arm. He very well might bleed out, but that wasn't her concern.

  She glanced over at the other man.

  "D-don't hurt me!" he said. "Please, Red Spirit!"

  She walked over and knocked him unconscious. Then, she turned to the bison. The creature was just as scared of her as it was of the men. It snorted and growled, terrified.

  She watched it for a moment. She'd come here to free the creature, but what would happen if she did? She approached it, and it hurriedly retreated from her.

  "If I save you," she said. " Then, I will have crossed a line. I will have actively helped the Avatar in his fight against my own people."

  The creature whined, and something twisted in her heart. Was it sympathy? Her father had always told her sympathy was a weakness.

  “This is nothing personal,” she said to it, raising her spear.

  The bison backed away. Something in her heart recoiled, but she did her best to still that feeling. Such emotions weren’t useful to her at this moment.

  ***

  She stood there, her spear poised to descend, when she saw her form in the creature's eyes. With her blood-red mask on and with blood spattered all over her dark clothes, she resembled a warped monster. Was this what she was? Was it what she wanted to be? She felt as chained as the bison.

  After one more agonizing moment, she lowered her spear. The bison breathed what sounded like a sigh of relief. How intelligent was this thing?

  She stepped toward it, and the large animal roared and bared its teeth. She pulled off her mask and raised her hands. "Easy, I'm not going to hurt you." She laid her spear on the ground and slowly approached.

  When she got close enough, the animal licked her with its huge, slobbery tongue. It slid up one side of her body, from her ankle to her head. Stinky drool slimed her.

  "Ugh!" Azula said, shivering. "Gross!" She wiped the drool from her face. "Do that again, and I won't help."

  The bison grunted, which she took as affirmation. She knelt next to the first of his chains. "Hold still. I'd hate to burn you."

  Blue flame, so bright and powerful that she couldn’t bear to look at it, erupted from her index finger. She looked away, shielding her eyes, as she burned through the chain. One by one, she cut them, setting the creature free.

  ***

  It took longer to get out of the facility than it had to enter it. With the Dai Li under attack, they'd locked down the facility. Eventually, she opened an exit into the bright morning sun. Beside her glimmered the profoundly blue waters of Lake Laogai.

  She stared at her garish red mask. Did she do the right thing? Only a powerful firebender could burn through chains, so the secret police would figure out that one was active in the city. They would also know that that person was the Red Spirit. How difficult would it be for them to ascertain that the banished Princess of the Fire Nation was in Ba Sing Se? Once again, her uncle was right. She didn't know what course the future would take, what the ramifications might be.

  Whatever happened, she would face it with courage. She looked at the mask in her hands. Anonymity had protected her, but those days were gone. She rubbed the worn wood of the mask. It had served her well over the past few months. Had it outlived its usefulness? Should she cast away all it represented? An urge came over her to throw it into the lake, but her practicality prevailed. She might still have need of it.

  Discarding this tool would have been a dramatic yet futile gesture. She'd transcended the mask. She was no longer the monster, and she didn't need some symbolic gesture to prove it to herself.

  She was Azula.