<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/e/eb/Pheonix_queen_azula.jpg)</div><div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/b5/Capital_crater.png)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Phoenix Queen Azula<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Fire Nation Capital, Courtyard<br/><strong>Weather:</strong>Mild Rain, Distant Lightning<br/><hr/><hr/><br/>It was rare that the streets of the Capital were quiet.  Normally the city hummed with the sound of trade and tourism.  Particularly since what had become known as Unification Day, four years ago.  The day when all four nations had finally come together in harmony.  The wise and noble princess Azula succeeded where the traitorous Dragon of the West had failed and presented her father with the city of Ba Sing Se, a city that greeted the Fire Nation as liberators and saviors.  After her father's untimely death, the courageous and valiant Princess Azula was crowned as Fire Lord and she extended the offer to the Northern Water Tribe to cease this foolish war and join in the glory of the united Fire and Earth Nation.  That was Unification Day.<br/><br/>The land that arose became known as the Phoenix Imperium, and Fire Lord Azula had been rechristened the Phoenix Queen.  The Imperial Council, also called the Phoenix Council, was formed with representatives of each of the great regions of the Imperium.  One representative of the nobility from the three Nations and, because Queen Azula was as benevolent as she was beautiful, one representative was taken from the peasantry of each nation as well.  From the Earth Kingdom, former Earth King was named Councilman of the Earth Nobility.  A rebel and former freedom fighter, Jet, was named Councilman of the Earth Commons.  The Princess of the Northern Water Tribe disavowed her title and was named Councilwoman of the Water Nobility.  Finally, and most evident of Queen Azula's ability to turn enemies into friends, former enemy of the state Katara was named Councilwoman of the Water Commons.<br/><br/>On the first anniversary of Unification Day, the Queen held an elaborate ceremony and celebrated the day by taking for herself a bride.  The fierce and beautiful warrior became Queen-Consort, Wife and Protector of the Phoenix Queen, the Silver Queen Ty Lee.  The known world rejoiced at their union. And finally, after more than a hundred years of a war, the nations of the world lived in harmony and peace under the gracious leadership of their enlightened Queen.<br/><br/>Or so the History Books all said.<br/><br/>There's a saying about History and Victors...<br/><br/>The rain was soothingly rhythmic against the the ground as the turtle ducks crossed the courtyard to wade in the fountain.  It was midday but the cloud cover made it almost as dark as dusk.  The summer heat combined with the rain to turn all of Capital Crater into a sauna like it did every summer.  Drops evaporated almost as soon as they touched the ground, creating a murky atmosphere.  It could be more accurate to say one swam through Capital Crater than walked, that day... had anyone been on the streets to do so.<br/><br/>It was a day of Mourning.  The anniversary of the death of Fire Lord Ozai, and Azula counted herself thankful that the sky was weeping for him.  It saved her the trouble of having to try and fake tears of her own.<br/><br/>Servants held the heavy umbrella over the Phoenix Queen while she read by the light of a hoving blue flame.  Her arms around Ty Lee as they lay on a bench covered with pillows brought from inside the palace.  She rested the silk binding of the book between her wife's breasts so that the soft leather cover fall open against her curves, and the pages were displayed so they both could read at the same time.  She never turned the page before she heard a noise of confirmation from her lover.<br/><br/>Azula was almost sleepily content as she recline in a royal robe, left open just enough for her beloved to rest against her bare flesh.  In a rare display, her hair was let down freely and the Phoenix crown rest in a chest by her side. She had been reading in silence and quiet contemplation for several blissful minutes.  She enjoyed the words more when they wrapped so comfortably around the form of her wife's body.<br/><br/>She was surrounded by women.  Her wife.  The serving girls with the umbrellas, and fans, and bowl of cherries.  At the end of the bench, sitting under another umbrella was her loyal adviser and hand, Lady Mei.  Mei had been charged by her Queen days ago with writing a suitable love poem to read to Ty Lee on their coming anniversary, but the only words Mei had been able to come up with were mostly about the blackness of dispair and how much romance made her want to vomit.  Another slip of paper was crumpled and tossed callously to the ground, hitting a turtle-duckling as it flew.  Azula laughed a little as it filled her with a sense of nostalgia.<br/><br/>One of the serving girls was quick to run out into the rain and gather the crumpled paper and toss it into a basket full of others.  It was established the the Phoenix Queen valued cleanliness.  It was known within the palace to be easy to upset the Queen, and depending on her mood the punishment could be quick or last ages.  Men were usually put to death.  Women the Queen "expected better of" and her punishments often reflected that expectation.  It was rare she'd kill a girl for doing wrong, but it was all too common she would make them wish she had.<br/><br/>All in all, Azula could not have asked for a more relaxing day.  And naturally, that meant it would come crashing to an end when a soldier came splashing through puddles in a hurry towards her.<br/><br/>"My Queen!  I bring news of the rebellion..." he said.  Even with the mask, Azula could tell where his eyes lingered.<br/><br/>Azula pulled her robe closed so that her bare breast was concealed. "Mei," she said. "Am I ugly?" she asked.<br/><br/>Mei shrugged, "No, Azula."  She was probably the only person in all the world who could have answered without conviction.<br/><br/>"Hm," she turned the page of her book, "Am I a man?"<br/><br/>"I think Ty Lee would have mentioned something by now, Azula," Mei responded.<br/><br/>"And I'm also certain she'd have said something if my personal grooming had become disgusting," Azula said.  "So, it would stand to reason, then, that I am not Admiral Zhao.  So, Mei..."<br/><br/>"Yes, Azula?"<br/><br/>"Why is this soldier bringing me news of the rebellion?"<br/><br/>"I don't know," Mei shrugged, "Because he's stupid?"<br/><br/>"Or suicidal..." Azula purred.  She finally let her yellow eyes fall on the soldier with disdain, "Care to tell me which it is?"<br/><br/>The soldier swallowed, "I was told to deliver a message.  Urgent news in the Throne Room... from Admiral Zhao..."<br/><br/>Azula sighed and handed the book to Ty Lee, slinking out from under the girl and adjusting her robe again, "Then you're stupid<em>and</em>you've wasted my time."<br/><br/>"Someone's on a fast track to a promotion," Mei said.  Her smokey voice coming as close to laughter as it ever did.<br/><br/>One of the serving girls attempted to place the crown back upon her head but she impatiently slapped the girl away as another tied her robe closed.  If Admiral Zhao were calling for her, then that meant this news directly involved her brother.  She raced quickly back to the throne room with the soldier at her heels, her bare feet getting dirty as they walked over the rain soaked stone path.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/8/89/670px-96%2C577%2C0%2C360-Azula_in_the_throne_room.png)</div>As she entered the throne room the pit in front of her seat burst to life in a wave of blue flame, she took her seat and breathed deeply looking down at the soldier and Admiral Zhao bowing before her.  Formality dictated she bow to them, as well.  She didn't.<br/><br/>"Guards... have this man stripped of rank and taken to Boiling Rock," she said.  Immediately several Earth Benders descended upon him from the shadows and he was sealed in a virtual coffin of stone.<br/><br/>"He's been a loyal soldier," Zhao protested, though with all the conviction of a man reading the packaging information on a bag of Fire Flakes.<br/><br/>"And that is the only reason he's not being executed," Azula clarified as he was taken away.<br/><br/>Zhao offered no further argument but did question, "What was his crime?"<br/><br/>"He looked upon my royal flesh without permission," Azula explained. "In front of my wife."  She looked, with boredom, at her finger nails and sighed, "I'd have him blinded but I don't wish to risk offending Lady Toph over such a trivial matter."  Then she sighed. "He didn't even have the decency to compliment me."<br/><br/>"I'm worried about this rain," Zhao said. "That pet water bender you keep... this is asking for trouble.  She should be executed."<br/><br/>"Lady Katara is more valuable to me where she is than all your fleets of ships, Admiral.  And you will remember your position when you speak of her, I'll burn that tongue from your throat if you speak ill of her ouside these walls."<br/><br/>Zhao shook his head and bowed, "Of course, my Queen.  No disrespect meant to the throne.  But, this rain is expected to last for another day at least."<br/><br/>"Katara is contained," Azula assured him.  Ty Lee's sisters surrounded the Lady Katara like a cage of flesh at almost all times.  And she'd be locked inside a stone tower for the duration of the storm.  Azula had been very careful about when Katara was allowed to bend.<br/><br/>"We have news that General Iroh..." Zhao changed the subject, getting down to brass tacks as it were.<br/><br/>"The Dragon of the West is simply Iroh, now, Admiral Zhao.  He has no rank.  He has no family."<br/><br/>"Well, he's been spotted in Omashu.  Intelligence says he was on the road from Ba Sing Se.  The rumor is that they're tracking a powerful bender," Zhao explained.<br/><br/>Azula looked on with all the enthusiasm usually reserved for the reading of a will.  Her lips were pursed and her eyes half lidded and bored, her posture even slouched a little. "I could be bedding my wife, right now," Azula said crassly.  "Why do I care if my brother and his cadre of oblivious fools have found another Earth Bender?"<br/><br/>"It's not an Earth Bender," Zhao said. "The rumor is that it's the Avatar."<br/><br/>"The Avatar is a Child's story..." but even as she said it, she doubted her own words.  She'd never been a superstitious girl.  She didn't believe in spirits she'd never seen, or places she'd never been.  But something about the legend of the Avatar had always had too much truth to it.  Her father had certainly feared it enough, and he was not a man that Azula had known to fear fairy tales. "If I had the Avatar... I wouldn't need my brother to sire an heir."  It wasn't that Azula had any particular interest in incest, but to secure her throne she would need the seed of a powerful bender... and she would not allow herself to lie with the peasantry.  Her brother had always seemed like the most logical choice.  But... if the Avatar had returned... "Bring him to me."<br/><br/>"Of course, Phoenix Queen." Zhao bowed, "If we encounter your brother?  Should we treat him as an enemy of the state?"<br/><br/>Azula thought about it.  Even if there was a chance she could get what she needed from the Avatar, she wasn't the type to throw all her eggs in one basket.  "No.  I still want my brother returned to me alive..." she said. "In chains.  But alive."  She'd much rather hedge her bets.  She dismissed him and the Admiral went about executing her orders.  How he did it didn't really matter to her at this point, her mind was already laying out the rules for a new game. "So, Zuzu... you've finally found your Avatar?" she said to herself. "I'm glad.  I might have gotten bored playing just against you and Uncle..."