Azula was taking her time in her tent, occupying herself by making sure that she looked perfect, that not a strand of hair was out of place. Now, of all times, it was important that she looked her best. After the disaster that had been that idiotic drill, it was imperative that Azula saved as much face as possible, and the first step to being authoritative was to look one’s best. She knew she was keeping Mai and Ty Lee waiting; she could hear them talking outside the tent before they moved away, although their conversation was indistinct. They could wait. It was good for them. They may have been nobles, but she still outranked them. She was the princess after all, and they would just have to wait for her. (These were the little sorts of luxuries of which Azula never, ever tired.) Straightening her crown, Azula looked herself over in her mirror and smiled cunningly at her reflection. First step complete.
Now, it was time to move on to the second step of maintaining authority: rewarding the loyal and punishing the stupid. In this case, punishing War Minister Ching for that embarrassment of a plan. Ugh. People were such idiots. You would think that any War Minister worth his salt would’ve realized by now that you couldn’t just barge in to Ba Sing Se by force. Not that they hadn’t gotten close. But even without the Avatar and his little friends, Ba Sing Se was not the kind of place that someone just charged into. That was why there were walls. And everyone knew that the easiest way to deal with a wall wasn’t to just knock it down. The best way was to walk right through the door.
With one last flick of her hair, Azula left her tent and strode over to where her companions were waiting. Her sharp ears perked up a little at the sound of their voices, and a slightly annoyed look crossed her face as she picked up on their tones. Azula always expected Mai to complain of something (even if it was just boredom, by far the most common complaint), but she was not particularly pleased with Mai's questioning the legitimacy of where Azula had decided to make camp.
"We'll be back on the road soon enough, Mai," Azula told her coolly. "I chose this spot so it would be easier to make our next move, which," the tiniest of smile quirked at her lips. "Will be very, very soon. And don't worry. We'll be travelling on our own from here on out. No more of these troublesome idiots and their good-for-nothing technology to weigh us down."