A/N: Chapters in advance in Patreòn
Pa treon.com/HolyJoker
(20+ chapters in advance)
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Chapter 58 - New Best Friends

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Azula stood on the balcony of the highest castle in Omashu. Now that the dominating Earth Kingdom city had been captured, it was only a matter of time until the rest of the Earth Kingdom followed along. Though time wasn't on their side exactly, because the longer they waited the worse it would be as the Avatar might master the four elements.

While Omashu's King was a warrior and strategist. The Kind of Ba Sing Se hadn't been seen in any war, nor even seen at all.

"You know, brooding here alone isn't your style," a voice came from next to her. She almost shot him with lightning but stopped herself. Recognizing that it was Kuzon.

She glanced at him pointedly. "You shouldn't sneak on me so suddenly."

He only smiled mischievously, that look said as he was bound to do it again. "You seem angry?"

Azula doesn't elaborate on that, because it had been almost a week since Kuzon was here and only now she realized just how boring it was without him around. She wanted to ask him where he was, but Azula felt as if she would express weakness and worry if she asked him.

So instead, she went for the cruder approach. Next time he left, she would stick some spies on him. 

"I was taking care of my little sister," but he answered without pause. They both knew that this would expose his weakness to Azula, but he did so without worry. As if he trusted her already, this almost made the Princess smile, feeling that she was now the one in control. "She is a little sickly. One day I might take you with me and we could visit her. Though I know that the chances of her liking you are slim to none, so be prepared for that."

"It seems like your sister is weak and already at death's door. Why do you even bother spending time with her?" Azula asked him a ruthless, but a curious question. To her, it seemed like Kuzon was like her, a ruthless man, but maybe she had been wrong to make that assumption.

Still, she insulted his sister in a roundabout way, so he would get angry. But unsurprisingly, Kuzon only chuckled. As always, he had a terrifying handle on his emotions. Just like Ty Lee had told her, it would be almost impossible for him to become angry, and that was something Azula believed in too.

"While my sister might be weak. She is still my sister, her blood runs through my veins. As an older brother, I must take care of her until she spreads her wings," explained Kuzon, as Azula turned around and started walking away, he followed along.

As they went out, the guards in the hallway were surprised to see another man, wearing Earth Kingdom clothes next to the princess so they got in position to fight. But with a gesture from Azula, they stopped. 

Now that she thought about it, Kuzon had been able to go through the whole castle with Earth Kingdom clothing? By the reaction of the guards, they didn't see him when he came in. This made her quite intrigued, it seemed like Kuzon still held many secrets from her, and one of them was his assassin-like stealth. 

Suspicions started bubbling up within her that Kuzon wasn't just a simple spy. 

As they walked through the hallways, they encountered Mai and Ty Lee.

The cold-looking girl was the one who stared at him and narrowed her eyes. Just like Ty Lee had told her, if one looked closely, then the atmosphere around Kuzon was truly strange… or at least that was what she liked to think. Because as he smiled at them, he seemed like your everyday, normal teenager.

"Yo, I am Kuzon. What's your name?" He casually asked Mai, offering her his hand. But she didn't return the handshake and just looked at him and answered with a simple "Mai".

"Ahh~" realization drew in his eyes. "So you are one of those emo kids?"

"Emo?" Mai frowned. "That sounds like an insult."

"..." him not answering was an answer in and of itself. 

Azula on the other hand saw this and calmly intervened. "Mai, don't let him get under your skin. He is just trying to get a rise from you."

In response to the accusations, Kuzon just chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. Ty Lee pouted and looked away. "I was planning to give you a hug, but now no more."

He chuckled and went ahead, hugging Ty Lee anyway. "Sorry about that, I just wanted to see what the new member of our group was capable of."

"You meanie. We have been a group since we were young, you are the newest member, not Mai." Ty Lee just pouted, as she returned the hug, but smiled mischievously, planning to give Kuzon a little scare by Chi Blocking him.

 Azula looked on in amusement, she too wanted to see him in a powerless position. But it was for naught as he grabbed her hand, just a hair's length away from hitting him. "Hm? Are you trying to poke me? Why did that feel so dangerous?"

Ty Lee looked at him in surprise. No one before had been able to react to her Chi Blocking, especially if they only saw it for the first time. Still, she smashed her head on his chest as hard as she could. "Those monstrous instincts are not fair!"

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-Azula POV-

How ridiculous, even though it was just simple banter. With how they are acting, it seemed as if Kuzon had been part of our group from the beginning.

He was charismatic, good at sneaking around, gathering information, and now even sensing danger. All of that pointed towards him being a top-rate assassin, a talented one too.

I don't know what he is thinking most of the time. But judging by his actions, I can tell that he was trained to be an assassin, probably from a very young age. Getting those kinds of skills wasn't normal otherwise, and at most Kuzon was eighteen or nineteen. Yet he was as good as a normally talented assassin that trained for more than three or four decades.

It wouldn't be outlandish to think that he was the best assassin in the world. Normally I would be suspicious of such a man, but he hasn't been hiding it from me either. He trusted my intelligence to figure out what he was without even saying so. Well, anyone would have figured it out if he sneaked on them like that.

If he tried assassinating me, would I be able to resist?

That was a question that I needed an answer to. But still, for now, I had to let this go. There were more important things that were happening and Kuzon was someone that I needed now more than ever.

Father had given the order for the Northern Water Tribe to be captured. Initially, the plan had been to have the Avatar captured and hold him there. Now the plan had changed to killing him. But if the Avatar died, then it would just reincarnate again. The next cycle after air was Water, and the war had already drained the Fire Nation out of a lot of resources. 

Though no one knew it yet, the hundred-year war had wasted quite a lot of our wealth. We have been in a losing deficit for quite a while now. Also increasing taxes wasn't something we could do so recklessly either, because if anyone noticed that the Royal Family was getting weaker. They would be like bloodhounds. 

War was a complicated thing, it wasn't just who had the strongest army. But our expenditure was very big too, as we had to move troops, supplies, and everything else from the Fire Nation and into the Earth Kingdom. It isn't rare for those supplies to go missing either due to raiders. 

Fighting a war on enemy soil, that was on the other side of the sea, wasn't easy. If we can't take over the Northern Water Tribe, then I am afraid we will be put in a precarious situation.

I HAD to take it over. No matter what. 

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A/N: War is a complicated thing, and it isn't about who has the bigger army. Now the Fire Nation is in too deep and wasted too many resources to give up now. 

P.S: Merry Christmas everyone!