Kapitel 18: We Write Our Future Ch 18
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It's a beautiful moment, as the Dai Li ripples down the wall, the great-wall that is supposed to impenetrable. But they slide further and further down until they reach the ground, and boom the walls collapse on themselves. For a hundred years, the wall has stood, and in less than a hundred seconds, it falls. It has a sort of poetic beauty to Azula, a fitting achievement to her status as the Crown Princess, and no sooner does the dust dissipate when the first crimson and black colors start to appear. The northern-army had, arrived and started to pour-inside the city.
"I think...our job has concluded here," said Azula, having re-dressed into her Fire Nation Royal armor, with the added accessory of his ring.
"You head back, my Princess. I have to meet someone," replied Zhan, starting to go down.
"Where are you going?" she asked him.
"I'm going to see my father," he replied, looking her in the eyes, then starting to descend.
'His father?' she thought, then she realized what he meant. If his father was the commander of the northern army, won't he be here as well? She slowly started to descend as well, intending to find out what Zhan's father looks-like.
Walking into the army's path, he soon started to walk towards a large burly man who was marching in the middle. His facial distinction: having black sideburns, a black goatee, and a bald head, along with a nasty scar near his left eye. He had a large metal halberd, strapped to his back; wearing, a distinctive Fire Nation army armor, along with General rank markings.
Azula doubted that this man, who was as high as her father Ozai and looked as large as a wolf-bear...could be Zhang's father. Yet she could see Zhan, making a slow pace towards the man, who stopped in his tracks upon seeing the boy.
Stopping in front of the man, Azula saw him making the respectful bow to the man. Then they grabbed each other's wrists, looking at each other in the eye. Then the man, placed his large right-hand on Zhan's shoulder, as they soon started to speak, They were related, as Azula saw it, deciding to take her time, to get on-board her vessel, for their return trip to the Fire Nation.
"...as well...I didn't expect to see you, here Zhan..." spoke General Zhu, to his son, keeping a strong face.
"Neither did I father...yet I had good reasons to be here...specifically aiding in the fall of Ba Sing Se," replied Zhan, keeping eye-contact with his father.
"You don't lie to me...don't you?" mumbled his father. Zhan was known to always speak the truth around him, his father.
"No, I don't," replied Zhan confidently. "Yet...I have to return to the Fire Nation."
"Important?" asked his father, to which he nodded too; Zhan was now politically involved in the Royal Palace. "Very well...keep an eye on your mother, tell her I miss him."
"Of course, father," replied Zhan, as they did a quick pat on each other's hands keeping their, wrists, locked quickly they released each other and went their separate ways.
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Their return trip home was a slow one since they had no rush to be anywhere. The last Earth Kingdom stronghold had fallen, it denizens under-control. Yet Azula still managed to find her way up-deck, where Zhan was admiring the night sky.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked, turning towards her.
"Not much," she presses her weight against the rail at the edge of the ship. "I have been intending, ask you something."
"Ask," he replied calmly.
"About your family...they seemed the opposite of what I expected," she said.
"Namely?" he asked, confused about her statement.
"Your father seemed like a complete opposite of you..." said Azula.
"Ohh..." teased Zhan, grinning at her. "You were spying on us?"
"Like you wouldn't..." she replied. "And also...your mother...she seemed opposite of you and your father."
"You heard the old-romance idea: that opposite people are attracted to each other?" he asked, facing Azula.
"Maybe..." she replied, hiding her blush.
"My father isn't, so much different from your father, Fire Lord Ozai," he said, catching her attention.
"How so?" she asked, getting curious about his family.
"My father is the strong, hard-handed general you may have heard, yet he does focus on his troop's morale and equipment. He runs them tight, demanding loyalty, yet he has their respect. Also is he's more of an on-hands man himself. He likes to lead the hardest or most important charges himself, hence the fact of his status," he explained. "Being a respected general in the field, while seeming like the strong-headed general in a war-room...also don't expect him to stay in Ba Sing Se for long. He'll probably order a transfer, to another front - since he hates: sitting around and doing nothing."
"And you?" she asked.
"Same as you, if the rumors are true, he raised me disciplined and respectful - being a general' son...and being a carrier of my legacy," he added. "Yet he let me on my path, being disciplined but also creative and resourceful. In his mind, I could've done anything that interested me, as long as it was beneficial to me somehow. We might've seemed to talk and interact barely, but I know he loves me as a son. He was blunt and demanding, but I know it was for my good. So I'd be more prepared for the future."
'Was it that simple?' thought Azula, her father, raised her similarly: hardship and training, yet he had mentioned on a few occasions, she was proud of her. Thinking back further, she wouldn't be surprised if Azulon raised him similarly - they were the Royal Family, after all, so they obliged to be tough. "...and your mother...?"
"She may seem cheerful and loose-headed, you shouldn't ve fooled, she's smart and caring, she is mostly alone due to me and my father being away so she as to run the estate by herself. That's something that I could ever understand how could she go through with all this when I was growing up." Zhan took a small pause to look at the sky.
"Father was never, home and she had to mane the fort and take care of me, helping in some occasional mishaps and providing for me and so on let me add that if you ever made her mad, she'd immediately singe your face."
"So...she protected her young?" she asked, turning a bit sour.
"Yeah...I know it's difficult for her, being mostly alone, but she has managed to keep herself busy: meeting with other nobles, chatting, gossip...you know the occasional noble habits," he said. "But somehow...she always manages to make time, to put a warm welcome when I visit."
That statement had gotten Azula into a sour mood, losing any interest in his family due to her family been so dysfunctional.
"Didn't you have a mother?" asked Zhan.
"Did..."
"She left," said out Azula, in a venomous tone, avoiding eye-contact. "Yet she paid low-attention to me. Focusing on my traitor of a brother. I questioned if she even liked me!"
"Now...now.," he said, turning her face to face his, then kissed her ring-hand. "Who couldn't love a beautiful thing, like yourself?"
"You flatter me," she replied.
"I try..." he replied, returning to watching the night sky.
"You got any plans for the Invasion? Azula decided to change the subject.
"A few..." he replied. 'The Day of Black Sun - a solar eclipse, blocking out all firebending, and the Avatar's group' plan of doing a second darkest day to his Nation, not if he could stop it.'
"Namely?" she asked.
"It's a surprise..." he said. Wrapping an arm around Azula's waist and pulling her closer. "But I can promise that after that day - you'll be easily soaring in the skies."
"I look forward to it," she replied, easing into his touch.
A little farther away, two girls were watching this moment between the two people.
"Ahh...isn't, it romantic Mai?" asked Ty Lee in a dream-like state.
"All this lovey-dovey stuff makes me want to puke?" replied Mai, her dull self, while she had some popcorn in hand.
"Where did you get those snacks?" while pointing at Mai, she just shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh...are you, still mad about what Zuko had done?" asked Ty Lee.
"What! No!" replied Mai, rather forcefully. "Those two' acting makes me sick..."
"Ahh...be happy, Mai," replied Ty Lee back in her dream-like state. "...do you they think will invite us to their future wedding...?" Ty Lee said while playing with her hair.
"Ugh..." shook Mai, hearing Ty Lee's idea. "I'm leaving."
"...suit yourself..." replied Ty Lee, watching Azula and Zhan. One of her best-friends was in love, arranged, and now engaged. And she couldn't be more happy - already what to wear, what to do, and how to look like, in the couple's future marriage.
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Omake: Comparison aren't always bad
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Zhan was walking strolling because of an order from Azula that he has been holding himself on his lab. She gave strict commands that he was ban from been hold-up in his lab.
'Azula can be very bossy some time,' he sighs while looking at his surroundings while keeping his steady walk.
He looks at the distance at Ty Lee he decided to go have talked with her, "Hey, do you have time," he cal out to Ty Lee, as she turns her head to see who was calling for her you could see the tears on her eyes.
Ty Lee got startled that she tripped, and since she wasn't, paying attention she had, difficulty in getting her balance back Zhan stops her from falling, "are you okay? "You know it is not like you to lose your balance like that," he said while cleaning her eyes with a small cloth.
"Will you mind telling me what is troubling you?" he looked at her, waiting for her to calm down.
"Zhan, you know about my family and why I joined the circus? Zhan nodding.
Zhan looks at the sky with a gentle, "Ty Lee in our life there are things we can do alone, and there are things that you will need help from others you see it doesn't make you look weak when you ask for help." Ty Lee kept on looking at Zhan.
"If you are in trouble, Azula and Mai even the group of misfit can help if you bottle only hurt you," he pointed at Ty Lee's heart.
"Zhan," she intensely looks at Zhan directly at the eyes, "thanks," he gave her, a gentle smile while patting, "come let's, go have some fun, and maybe you can show me some of those circuses tricks."
She started skipping happily, as she passes Zhan by, "you better keep up then." she was back to her cheerful way.
As both continue, there to walk, and their friendship is deepening the badge that Ty Lee had was no longer there and she looks at Zhan like a brother figure she never had.
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AUTORENGEDANKEN 
DriedSnug
DriedSnug "Here is what you will do and listen well" while pointing a gun at a good dress man. "You will place all of your stone in this sack, after this you will share this story with every person you see and sing praises about me."
"Now, go back and read the novel from the beginning once more."
(╭ರᴥ•́)⌐╦╦═─
PS: Thanks for everything and have a good day.
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