Backfire

A matter of minutes later, and the sound of knocking echoed throughout the Fire Nation embassy. Katara looked around, then sighed.

"I bet they forgot something," Katara said.

She got up, striding from the room, leaving Azula to glower at her two former friends. Azula curled up into a ball, for warmth as much as modesty. She heard some sort of activity outside as Katara answered the door.

"Ty Lee. A question," Azula said.

"Um, yes?" Ty Lee said nervously.

"Say you were to be tied naked to a post in the middle of a town all day, would you be more embarrassed to be facing it, or to have your back from it?" Azula said.

Ty Lee whimpered, blushing at the thought of it. Azula, meanwhile, cackled. Even if she was a prisone,r she had to get her fun somehow, and tormenting Ty Lee was always fun.

Then the sound outside drew closer, and the doors to the cell were burst open. Rather than Katara or Aang or Sokka though, the three were greeted by the sight of Fire Nation troops.

Azula's first thought was: at last!

Azula's second thought was: FUCK I'm still naked, look away, look away...

The captain looked around the room. He opened up Azula's cell without really thinking about it, eyeing the two outside. Katara, too, was bundled into the room, restrained, arms held behind her back to keep her from bending.

There had to be a dozen or so men to the squad. Azula reddened even as she exalted.

She could... She wasn't sure what she could do. The squad who'd freed her from the clutches of these brats deserved a reward so she couldn't very well kill them, like she planned to raze the village, but that was still a dozen peasants gazing upon her royal body. Azula scrambled to her feet, holding an arm over her breasts and a hand between her legs as she stumbled out through the door.

"At last," she said, as haughtily as she could manage in the circumstances.

The captain looked at her strangely. Azula blushed further. She must look quite a state, no robes, hair bedraggled after so long, to say nothing of her nudity. Though it would certainly be rude for him to comment on the latter. Maybe an executable offense.

Before he could say anything though, one of his men had explored the cell.

"Hey, sir, look at this," he said. The captain turned, and went inside.

They'd found Azula's orders, the sheets of planning she'd made during the night. Azula grinned.

The captain whistled.

"Wow, you must've pissed her off," he said. Then he paused. "Or accidentally bumped into her in the street. Could go either way with the Princess. Still, royal orders supersede ours. Boys!"

He started handing them out, reciting as he did so.

"The Avatar and the Water Tribe boy aren't here," he said. "Leaving... Water Tribe woman, hair in ringlets, waterbender, Katara. Traitorous servants, Ty Lee the chi-blocker, and Mai the knife-wielder."

He looked around the room. Katara was struggling uselessly, while Mai's knives were useless against the soldiers' armor. Ty Lee was trembling. Azula, meanwhile had the biggest grin on her face since this whole ordeal had begun. It took all her self control to not laugh in triumph.

She'd get clothes from these soldiers, or even take one of her captors's, and then she'd be able to witness her masterpiece. An expertly constructed piece of humiliation, every second more mortifying than the last, nudity and more awaiting those who had dared-

The captain looked at Azula.

"And an unknown woman, long dark hair, pale, unknown name and status, in their company," the captain said.

Azula's smile faded very quickly.

"No, wait!" she said. "That's not me, I'm not her."

"Looks it to me," the captain said. "You match the description."

"Do I look like I have a shirshu to you?!"

"No mention of a shirshu," the captain said.

Wait. Shit. Of course there wasn't, she wasn't going to punish the dumb beast. If anything, she'd use to to add to the humiliation of the brats.

"But I'm the Princess!" Azula protested.

"And I'm the Fire-Lord," the captain said. "Princess Azula is a well-known regal figure, she would never be caught naked. She has the finest garb in the kingdom, and a royal crown adornment for her hair, she's not naked and in the company of the Avatar's friends. She would never allow herself to be captured, much less stripped!"

Azula stammered.

"Well, yes, normally," she said. "But... This is ridiculous! I wrote those orders, this is why they deserve to be punished, I'm not-"

Katara interrupted. Azula glanced over; the guards had already ripped her Water Tribe clothing from her, baring her dark brown skin as per the first of Azula's many, many instructions.

"She's telling the truth," Katara said. "She's definitely the princess, you should let her go."

Katara looked at Azula in a silent, petty so there.

"Ha! Trying to get your friend released huh?" the captain said. "A likely story."

"No, she's lying!" Azula protested.

"So you admit you're not the princess?"

"Yes! No! She's trying to make you think I'm not, she wants me to be... hey, stop that, no, no!" Azula yelped as one of the guards grabbed her arms, limiting her movement too much to bend her way out of there.

The four women were led out onto the streets of the town, the guards wanting fresh air, all clothes left behind. Katara's lay torn on the floor, and Ty Lee's were in several ragged piles, while Mai's robe had several sheaths of knives laying atop it. There was nowhere for Mai to be hiding any more knives now.

Squirming, flustered, the four women waited outside, outnumbered by the squad of soliders. And Azula was the only one among them who knew every detail of the long, long, humiliating punishment that awaited them.

The captain read the notes again. When he looked up, Azula gulped.