Zuko held up a fla to examine his surroundings, unable to stop himself from marveling at the fact that such a hidden passage existed.
They were currently walking through a secret tunnel leading into the Fire Nation palace, one of countless passages hidden beneath the palace grounds.
Back when Kori had helped them find the secret chamber containing Ursa's letters, she had also incidentally discovered the existence of many hidden tunnels.
However, their main goal at the ti had been to find the secret chamber, so they had not explored those tunnels thoroughly.
Even so, they had secretly committed the information to mory.
After finding the secret chamber, they began exploring the tunnels, mainly to determine their entrances and exits, their thods of access, and the various chanisms inside.
That operation had been nad the Palace Decryption Operation.
Both Zuko and Kahn had participated back then, but exploring and deciphering the hidden passages had been difficult and dangerous.
Until Zuko's banishnt, they had only gained a sufficient understanding of two or three passages, and the current one had not been among them.
Clearly, after he left, the operation had not stopped.
This tunnel must have been discovered during his absence.
A passage leading from the palace to the outside of the capital—its purpose was obvious.
It existed to allow mbers of the royal family to escape during an extre crisis.
This secret tunnel was a one-way route.
The switches for the blocking chanisms were hidden inside, ensuring that people could leave the palace for the outskirts, but not enter the palace from outside the capital.
At the sa ti, those chanisms ensured that even if an earthbender tried to force their way through, it would take a considerable amount of ti.
Generally speaking, that was how it worked.
Unfortunately, such physical restrictions ant nothing to a spirit.
When East, South, West, and North entered their spiritual forms, they could pass directly through all material objects in the human world, enter the chanisms, then take physical form again and open them for everyone.
That made the journey unbelievably easy.
Along the way, Zuko and Mai walked closely behind the others, whispering intimately as they recounted their experiences over the years.
Although they were whispering, even the faintest sound beca noisy in such a confined space.
Hearing the constant murmuring behind her, Azula finally could not endure it anymore.
She stopped, turned her head, and spoke with displeasure.
"Do you two particularly enjoy flirting in places like this?"
"Are you that desperate?"
The intense emotions and impulses from their reunion had gradually faded by now.
Hearing Azula say this, both of them felt sowhat embarrassed, but their clasped hands still refused to separate.
Suddenly, Zuko seed to rember sothing and said to Azula,
"I rember Kahn saying his spirit sight can only see images, not hear us speak, right?"
Azula said impatiently,
"Yes."
"So what?"
"There's sothing I've always been curious about, but it might not be convenient for Kahn to hear."
Zuko asked bluntly,
"How are things between you and him now?"
"…Huh?"
Azula froze for a mont.
Then, like a cat with its fur standing on end, she snapped angrily,
"None of your business!"
Ty Lee could not help shivering.
Zuko frowned and said,
"I just wanted to ask about you and him—"
Before he could finish, a scorching blue fireball streaked past Zuko's ear and slamd into the wall behind him with a dull roar.
"Say one more word, and I won't be polite."
Azula's sudden attack caused the atmosphere to freeze instantly.
At that mont, Mai, who stood beside Zuko, suddenly kicked him and sent him sprawling to the ground.
"Mai?!"
Zuko looked at her in disbelief.
Mai ignored him and said to Azula,
"Sorry."
"I'll handle this idiot."
Azula gave Zuko a cold glance, said nothing more, then turned and continued forward.
Ty Lee nodded at them and quickly followed Azula, leaving first.
Only then did Mai turn around, look at Zuko as he climbed up from the ground, and sigh.
"Did you really have to ask Azula that question in that situation?"
"Even I thought you were provoking her."
Only then did Zuko realize what he had done, and he said sowhat awkwardly,
"I didn't think it through just now."
"So… what exactly is their situation?"
Mai shrugged and said bluntly,
"No progress."
"Huh?"
Zuko opened his mouth in disbelief, but he finally understood why Azula had been so angry just now.
Before he left, Azula had been asking Mai for romantic advice.
Back then, he had also learned from Mai that Azula had feelings for Kahn, and he had been shocked by Azula's initiative.
However, he was very supportive of them being together.
Because when Azula was with Kahn, she truly was different from her usual self, and that difference was a positive one.
Toward Kahn, he even felt a sense of indebtedness.
He had originally thought that after all this ti, the two of them should have made good progress, or even gotten together already.
He had not expected there to be no progress at all.
Zuko could not help asking,
"Does Kahn not like Azula?"
"No."
"I think he simply hasn't thought about it that way at all."
"Of course, Azula's behavior is also extrely frustrating."
A hint of helplessness appeared on Mai's face.
Then she said,
"If you really want to help them, I suggest you talk to Kahn."
"I have to say, relying on Azula is far too difficult."
"After all, she is Azula."
Zuko sighed helplessly, clearly understanding his sister well enough.
He said,
"After this operation is over, I'll talk to Kahn."
After Zuko and Mai rejoined the group, they said nothing more, and the atmosphere returned to calm.
Once they reached the palace grounds, Kahn used spirit sight from afar to constantly monitor the patrols inside the palace.
Through mind-speech, he communicated with them in real ti.
Combined with Azula's complete familiarity with every part of the palace, this allowed them to move freely through the palace grounds.
Zuko could not help thinking that this was far too much like cheating.
After easily avoiding several patrol teams, they used another hidden passage to leave the palace and enter the city.
The group moved swiftly across the rooftops and reached the rendezvous point arranged with the White Lotus.
The White Lotus contact recognized them and walked up to Zuko.
"You must be Prince Zuko."
"The courtyard prepared for your temporary residence is ready."
"Please follow us."
Zuko was not unfamiliar with the White Lotus.
He nodded in thanks and said,
"Thank you for your trouble."
From then on, the leadership of their group seed to shift to Zuko.
Zuko walked at the very front, closely following the contact, while Azula quietly retreated to the rear of the group without saying a word, as if observing sothing.
Mai keenly noticed Azula's unusual reaction, so she quietly moved to Azula's side and was about to ask sothing.
But Azula stopped her with a glance.
The hiding place the White Lotus had prepared for Zuko was a very inconspicuous small courtyard with excellent concealnt.
It was also one of the White Lotus' backup strongholds in the capital, so there were no issues with its safety or secrecy.
The group secretly morized the location.
From afar, Kahn also nodded, indicating that it was suitable.
At this point, the mission to welco Zuko was successfully completed.
I've been a bit busy recently.
Sorry.
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