She laughs. 

"Healed, or wounded, then? Or with convenient burn injuries?"

"With burns, why not. No reason to make this too easy for her."

And then they can arrange that, and drop their little friend in a nearby room!

Who tries to shake herself out of her shell-shock in time to get herself the fuck together.

She's going to need to project her best ruthless image hard, for this.

It doesn't take her long to get found. She'll have a moment or two while the guard gets over the 'but should be halfway across the world right now'.

She tilts her chin and starts issuing orders, indirectly claiming her father's death with a cruel sneer. (For how to arrange this, how to keep it quiet, to bring her their best burn-healer and water to wash in...)

She'll need to get presentable before her coronation, after all.

(And then she'll need to find her brother and uncle and send people to look for survivors from the mess at Ba Sing Se if they're not all dead or imprisoned - and she'll need to end this war, and smooth things over so stepping down looks like a natural conclusion - )

Gratifyingly, no one questions her orders.

(It's nice that someone knows what they're doing.)

She takes a bit of vindictive pleasure in this probably not being all that entertaining to her hidden watchers.

She's not going to go out of her way to immediately throw herself into the most boring routine tasks she can find, but she does keep up the ruthless confidence well past where she'd be shaking if she didn't have perfect control of herself, well past where her ability to form words is increasingly jumbled and she's having to keep her sentences short, sharp, considered.

(Transition is going to be a mess.)

"I suppose this empire won't become a pyre after all," Eliana says to Hisame.

"Aw. Though she's doing such a good job. It'd be quite unsporting of us, to yank the rug out from under her feet..."

"We could decimate whatever army remains here."

"Hm. That will leave her quite defenseless against retaliation..."

"A bit of turn-about would do this country some good, I think."

"It'll certainly be a challenge - though I'd rather not get her killed, I think, as I do believe my sister would quite like her, and that'll give an excuse to check back on this world, at least..."

"Perhaps we can strip everyone of their armies! Level the playing field!"

"That does seem very fair. I am on board."

"Perhaps we should start with the Earth nation. They've had just enough time to marvel at our success before their walls, after all. And it's aesthetic, to spread out from there."

"A rippling wave, yes."

"Say we get started? I feel throwing their grand wall down is an appropriate place to start."

"It is very tall. I will need more blood."

"Hm... Perhaps their army, then, and the casting of the wall as a finale - though I can certainly shatter it if I put my mind to it, just not all at once."

"Perhaps if I slaughtered half the city contained within I could pull it all down at once. Though if I am going to such lengths for power, there are surely better objectives I might achieve."

She laughs. "A ring of my Amaterasu, properly directed, could eat through it. And then they'd have a terrifying wall of fire! And it'd likely cause a storm, which makes throwing lightning bolts at people extra fun."

"I would like to see that, I think."

"I live to please."

And zooming off, back to Ba Sing Se?

Back to Ba Sing Se, there to bring war.