Of Monsters and Freaks

TITLE: Of Monsters and Freaks

AUTHOR: WotanAnubis

FANDOM: Avatar: the Last Airbender

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender or any of its characters. No profit is being made.

RATING: NC-17

PAIRING: Azula/Ty Lee

NOTE: I've been completely devoid of inspiration for a while now, so this one's gonna be a quickie to hopefully get the juices flowing again. So to speak.

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It was quite a nice little mansion on quite a nice little island. At first glance it looked like the kind of place belonging to some rich merchant or nobleman who wanted a little place of their own in order to get away from it all for a while and enjoy a nice holiday in comfort and isolation.

At second glance, an observor might notice one or two... irregularities... about the place. For one thing, there were quite a lot of guards; far more than even the most paranoid noble would need. And they weren't private security either. Each and every one of them wore a uniform of the Fire Nation military. Then there was the small building near the main house where a few men and women wearing serious clothing lived, but who also very obviously didn't belong to the mansion's domestic staff.

There also weren't any mirrors anywhere.

It was, in short, Azula's residence. It was one of the perks of being royalty. By all rights a monster like herself should have been locked in prison or put away in an asylum. But her newly crowned brother had been so very generous and so very compassionate when it came to his obviously disturbed sister that she had been allowed to recover in a restful environment. How merciful of him, how noble. What a great symbol of a new and kinder Fire Nation.

Well, Azula did have to hand it to her brother. The common rabble probably swallowed such nonsense whole, making it far easier for him to get away with whatever he wanted. Besides, it was a subtle reminder that if anyone were to even think of deposing him, it would be Azula back in line for the throne and who could possibly want a creature like her on there?

Not that she really cared. At best she had a cold appreciation for the way her brother fooled the masses, but that was about it. She wasn't interested in the Fire Nation any more. It had it turned its back on her, after all. The world had made it quite clear that there was no place in it for her any more.

So be it. At least she could exist in comfort while the world moved on without her. Alone in her large and empty bedroom, the only place in the mansion without guards lining the walls or servants pottering about except for once every week when a maid came to clean up. There was a bed and a chair and a closet filled with silk white robes. Oh, and a door leading to a balcony. That always amused Azula ever so slightly. It was such an obvious means of escape and it wasn't even guarded. Not only that, but it was also high enough to allow for a different kind of escape. Perhaps that was why it wasn't guarded.

Azula sat watching the sunset a