IT’S COMFORTINGLY FAMILIAR, reflexive even, as habitual as breathing. this back and forth of theirs, an age-old stalemate that feels like a return to form, with neither conceding any ground. some infantile, vicious type of urge whispers in her ear: FIND THE WEAKNESS. PRESS IT. PROBE IT. a dull, serrated blade buried to the hilt in his soft tissue, fingers rubbing salt in the fresh wound. it purrs with satisfaction at the first signs of his anger, hungry animal that it is, as though it’s just found its mark after a long-drawn hunt, baring it to the air for her scrutiny. and so she watches, smiling that awful rictus grin, sharp enough to cut glass. as always, zuko’s routine is tired. he hems and haws, wearing his mantle of morality, all self-righteous drivel and fanciful imaginings wrapped in a near-perfect pantomime of brotherly care. but she peeks through the scant spaces of his charade, seeing him for what he really is. TRAITOR. MUTINEER. FRAUD. no amount of posturing is going to change that. it’s easy enough to reduce him to his basest instincts. to coax his schoolboy temper into kindling itself like a tinderbox. hot oil on an open flame. yes, the rage is more palatable, something she understands, knows intimately. far preferable to this inane appeal at her supposed sentimentality.
❝ oh, zuzu. still so naive. ❞ she gives a long-suffering sigh, voice dripping with notes of mock pity. ❝ i realize you’ve never had much experience in the ways of political intrigue, but do try to use those newly-minted fire lord credentials and think logically for once. ❞ the height of disrespect, potent as can be. ever the instigator, she plays on his insecurities, undermining his authority again and again. but what else does he expect? that’s what he gets for making himself so readily susceptible to her exploits, every single one of his failings ripe for the picking like an exposed nerve. ❝ tell me, when have you known our father to be merciful? does he strike you as someone who would leave loose ends unaccounted for? ❞ the doublespeak is purposeful, her insinuation anything but subtle. ❝ a banished witness can still talk. and unfortunately for her, our dear mother had been privy to some less than… savoury palace affairs. ❞ a dormant, half-forgotten memory flutters to the surface, forcibly exhumed from where it was left to languish, condemned to disrepair, roaming the shadowed halls of her youth with only hurt and misery for company. its haggard ghost tears through the rusted hinges without difficulty, revealing the annals of a buried history. something tainted, caked with rot. hushed ploys for power in the dead of night. hurried goodbyes never meant for her. their father rising to the highest rank imaginable come morning, his ascension not in the least soured by the tragic yet undeniably advantageous passing of their poor, old grandfather. an open secret steeped in blood, like so much of their past.
❝ the point is that she was a threat to his rule. one i have no doubt he would have removed discreetly at the first opportunity. wipe the slate clean, if you will. ❞ the words taste ashen in her mouth, squeezing her insides every which way for reasons she doesn’t care to investigate. keen to stifle the discomfort, she aims for aloofness, from the upturned tilt of her chin to the bored, haughty drawl, any scraps of emotion pushed out of sight with an expert hand. IGNORANCE BY DEFLECTION. a calculated retreat to safer waters, lest that heavy thickness in her throat choke her from within. the story she spins is a bluff at best, cruel conjectures cobbled together to create a believable enough narrative. in truth, azula knows nothing of their mother’s whereabouts, never dared ask for fear of garnering undue scorn or disapproval in those early years after her disappearance. still, the lies come naturally, finding their bleeding heart of a target despite the strained veracity. anything to inflict pain whichever chance she gets, to take zuko’s proverbial olive branch and set it ablaze, letting it go up in smoke with the last tattered shreds of his resolve. ❝ ⎯ such a shame. i was so looking forward to a big, happy family reunion. ❞
