Azula hated this official business, meeting with officials - the war meetings were not so bad, because occasionally, her opinion would get asked. These meetings were less about her opinions and what she could do for her father, and more about making sure everything was in order. Sometimes, she thought she was just being kept busy. She could be of so much more used to her father than this. However, if this is what he wanted to do, then she would do it. For now. It wasn't permanent, of course. She knew soon enough her idiot brother would screw up, and she would be sent to clean up his mess. Then she could really prove herself, but for now, she would do what she could from here.

She nodded at Ren, the scribe, as she entered. "Well, now, we can get started," Azula said. 

By the ending of the meeting, Azula was ready to be done. The official she had been meeting with finally finished, bowed to her, and made his leave. She might need some pampering after this, maybe a royal hair combing or practicing her bending. Anything but this. She sighed and turned to Ren. "Off the record, of course, but it's people like that drag this nation down sometimes," she said. "They don't know how to do what needs to be done." She didn't honestly care what she thought, but it never hurt to make sure you knew who your allies were, who really believed in everything and who was only going to get in the way. "What do you think about all this?" She waved her hand, indicating what she'd been talking about with the official. She knew full well that Ren was supposed to record everything - and she also knew that Ren wouldn't say anything, either.

It wasn't the longest meeting she'd recorded, but it was long enough for Ren's hand to start cramping. She wrote down the exchange between the official and princess dutifully, working quickly to record the exact words used. She was a scribe; in the palace, scribes were actually historians, tasked with recording every official conversation to file away in the vast libraries for the Fire Sages to guard as the history of the Fire Nation. Only a select few had access to these records: even the royal family were unable to read through them, and it was considered treason to alter these documents for any reason.

She was just putting away her brushes when the princess spoke.

"Off the record, of course, but it's people like that drag this nation down sometimes. They don't know how to do what needs to be done. What do you think about all this?"

Ren started, and looked up wildly. Her glasses slipped down her nose to the point where she was looking at the princess over the rims.

"I - I'm sure I don't, don't know, your highness," she said, her voice a little higher pitched than usual. 

She had been a scribe for the royal family off and on for the last three years. Primarily, she was assigned by the head scribe to record for the princess as opposed to the Fire Lord, but this was the first time the princess had asked for her personal opinion. Ren felt as if she were teetering on the edge of a knife; stray but a little, and she could fall down a path of which there was no coming back.

"Of course you do," Azula said. "Everyone has opinion." She had anticipated this, of course. The two of them had never really talked, and people typically didn't volunteer their opinions to royalty. Nor should they, of course. It never hurt to gauge the people who spent time with you, though, even the servants, and she was little more than that. One never knew when it would come in handy. Besides, she would have been surprised if she hadn't been a bit wary of answering her query honestly. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, of course. I was only asking." It wasn't as if she really cared one way or the other. It wasn't as if she would go saying anything about this, nor would Ren. "But you do have an opinion." Whether she was willing to voice those opinions in front of her or not. 

Ren felt her face flush and she was sure her pale skin was now tinged bright pink. Princess Azula, asking her for her opinion? Her, a lowly scribe, a nobody from outside of the capital? She was but a humble villager who managed to find herself in the palace, and now the princess herself was asking for her opinion.

She dipped her head in deference.

"O-of course, your highness," she replied.

Curse her stutter. It always surfaced at the most inconvenient times, and the more she thought about it the more pronounced it became. She took a deep breath and willed her mind to clear before trying her answer again.

"I think he was p-pushing his luck, your highness," Ren finally answered, a little breathlessly. "I would have to consult, consult the records, but if I remember he came up with a similar story last month, and some of the d-details ring a little — a little hollow."

She chanced a glance up, and when lightning didn't erupt from her highness's fingers, she kept talking, a little more boldly this time.

"That isn't t-to say that he, that he is being dishonest, your highness. But rather, perhaps, there is more to, to, to, to what he's saying."

Azula wondered about the stutter. Did she always talk like that, or was she just nervous? She couldn’t remember speaking much at her at all - why would she? - so she didn’t know for sure. Nor she did she care, really. It was merely an observation, and she couldn’t remember having been told or having it mentioned in the past. It wouldn’t be, though, would it? However, the princess agreed completely with what she was saying.

Azula nodded. “I agree completely,” she said, though she delivered no more compliments than that. “He’s a fool. He thinks I won’t notice, because I am young. He wouldn’t be first.” Most didn’t make that mistake twice. “Next time we meet, he won’t be making that mistake again. If even you notice, then does he think I will not be skeptical? This isn’t the first time I have had these reservations around him, either.

Azula wouldn’t bother her father with all this, though. He had to deal with a lot of things, and he trusted her. She would do what needed to be done, and only go to the Fire Lord if it was necessary. So far, this diplomat was a bit of a fool in her mind, but no reason to be going to her father just yet, unless he gave her a reason to. She was fully capable of handling herself for now.

Ren nodded slowly, brow furrowed in thought. She ignored the even you comment the princess slid in so casually; of course, even if she were asking for Ren's opinion, there was no comparing a lowly scribe with one of the most brilliant tactical minds in the Fire Nation — perhaps even the world. Ren had sat in on enough meetings and read over enough records of military officials' conferences to know that the princess was nearly unparalleled in strategy; only the now-banished General Iroh would likely be even able to match wits, though according to some the man's sharpness had dulled after his failure at Ba Sing Se and was now in his dotage... a school of thought Ren wasn't sure she subscribed to.

"It's a risky gambit, your highness," she replied. "Perhaps he has gotten care—careless from being unchallenged for too long."

It wouldn't be the first time an official grew too big for their britches, being unchallenged by their local subordinates or from being in the colonies for too long. They believed, being surrounded by people willing to bow and scrape to gain their favour, that they were echelons of strategy and tactic. Of course, that may have very well been true, at least in their immediate circle.

They were always in for a surprise when they arrived at the capital to deliver their report.

Ren closed up her record-keeping book and gave the princess a small smile, her eyes dropped deferentially to the princess's knee.

"Thank you for your consideration, your highness," she said, feeling the tips of her ears heat up. "You do me a great honour."

Azula thought over Ren's words for a brief moment. She had a point, one she had considered herself. Yes, it made sense that he had been unchallenged and gotten lazy. Most people did - well, most simple people. A man like that... yes, he would get complacent, and though he could whatever he wanted. Someone like that thought he could just show up, and all would be well. He would receive a rude awakening if he believed that. Here, they could not get away with being like that for long. He would learn his lesson soon enough.

"Yes, of course," she said, waving her hand nonchalantly. She had done her an honor by asking for her opinion. "You're right, of course. I agree." She gave a sigh. All this business was boring, but it was part of being the daughter of the Fire Lord, especially when your brother was a banished fool. "If you don't have anything else to add, you may be excused." There was no reason to prolong this anymore than she already had. She didn't need to be seen conversing with some scribe without good reason.