"Watch it, peasant. Hit me with that thing and you'll regret it," Azula snarled.
Sokka smirked, reclaiming his boomerang from the air.
"What's the matter, princess - afraid of a little bit of metal?"
The woman scoffed, her golden eyes flaring.
"It's you who should be afraid. You're a hazard to yourself and everyone around you. Agni knows how those other idiots have put up with you."
The aforementioned idiots showed varying degrees of anger at being proclaimed such. Katara's hand twitched towards her waterskin.
"I'd ask how Mai and Ty Lee put up with you, but I already know the answer," Sokka shot back, his grin widening.
It immediately shrunk at the torrent of blue flame that singed his eyebrows.
Aang reacted instantly, deflecting the ice spikes that Katara sent in defence of her brother away from the princess and extinguishing the flames.
"You know you shouldn't antagonise her, Sokka," the Avatar declared. "And you certainly shouldn't attempt to kill him for it."
Azula examined her fingernails disinterestedly.
"If I had wanted him dead, he would be," was her glib response.
"Because we all know how effective you are at actually finishing people off," Sokka called out.
Katara stopped healing his scorched face to punch him in the arm. He scowled at her, but shut his mouth.
Aang sighed, rubbing his bald head in dismay.
"Zuko asked us here to protect these villagers, not to turn on each other. Infighting is the surest way to defeat," the airbender told them.
Sokka opened his mouth, another sniping comment on his lips, before catching sight of his little sister's expression. He wisely closed it again, and simply nodded.
"As you command, oh mighty Avatar. But may I ask where, exactly, are these people we're to protect the peasants from? The most dangerous thing around here is the lingering smell of your beast," Azula drawled.
Aang frowned slightly at the insult to his beloved bison and himself, but chose not to address it. Instead he pulled a piece of paper from his robes.
"It says here that the residents of Xinzang Village have been repeatedly under attack in the last few weeks. Probably some other villages in the area too."
Sokka spoke up.
"I hate to admit it, but she's got a point. We've been walking around for ages and we've seen nothing yet. I wish Appa was here. Or Momo at least."
"I know, Sokka. But since they're not, we've just got to make do. But you two are right, we're not getting anywhere like this - we'll have to split up. Katara, you come with me, we can search the north-west. Sokka, you and Azula can do the south-east," Aang suggested.
"What?! Me and her? She'll kill me the moment you two leave, you saw her just now! And I don't trust you alone with my sister either!" Sokka exploded.
"You can't leave me with this… person. He'll drive me mad with his constant talking and blow our cover with his stupidity," Azula complained.
Katara just looked unsure, taking a hold of Aang's hand and squeezing it slightly. He smiled at her, taking strength from her presence.
"Look, you guys. You've been at each other's throats since we set off, maybe some time alone together might help. You should learn to get along. Zuko wouldn't have asked us to do this mission if he didn't think we could handle it. Do you want to disappoint him?"
It was clear by the expression on Azula's face that she couldn't care less about disappointing her elder brother, but Sokka looked slightly contrite.
With their begrudging consent, the four split into two, going their separate ways.
"We don't get along, he says. Gee - I wonder why. I wish Toph was here." Sokka muttered bitterly.
"Quiet, peasant. We don't want to alert our enemies to our presence," Azula whispered sharply. After a moment she added, "And I grow tired of your voice."
Sokka's scowl deepened, his hand resting on Space Sword's hilt.
"Your voice is hardly an angelic choir, Azula," he growled. He glanced around the bamboo forest that surrounded them. "Did Aang even say what were were looking for, exactly? The village just being 'attacked' doesn't tell us anything. For all we know it could be a particularly aggressive boarcuepine on the loose."
The notion that she might have been forced onto this mission only to have to deal with pest control did not sit well with Azula.
"It had better not be, I have better things to do with my time than deal with petty vermin. Not that bandits would be much better," she sniffed.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure being locked up is loads of fun." Sokka mocked.
Azula clenched her fists, blue flames snorting from her nostrils as she breathed hard.
"Careful with that fire - this place will go up and we'll both die, then where will you be?" chided Sokka.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Azula stated dryly.
Sokka opened his mouth, but suddenly froze and grabbed her arm to hold her in place. She glared at him, but he wasn't looking at her, and was slowly easing Space Sword out of its sheath.
Suspicion ran through her, but she readied herself into an attack stance, whispering to him.
"What is it?"
He shook his head, holding up two fingers and pointing over his shoulder. A twig snapped, loud in the suddenly quiet forest.
"We can't fight them here, too crowded. They might not have seen us or they may be following us, I'm not sure. Better we seek clearer ground either way," said Sokka lowly.
Azula wasn't particularly pleased at him giving orders to her, but she saw the merits in his plan and nodded. They began moving again at a slower, more careful pace.
Thankfully for the two, the terrain thinned, bamboo giving way to sparse trees and then a clearing. Sokka stopped short of it.
"What is it now?" Azula muttered impatiently.
"Easy there princess, I thought you were supposed to be a master strategist. Don't you know that looks like a good place for an ambush?" Sokka rebuked her.
Azula looked at the area. It was bare, except for a few rocks here and there.
"And people called me paranoid," she huffed.
"Mad, the word you're looking for there is mad," Sokka supplied cheerfully.
Azula turned on him, but was then stopped as one of the rocks had suddenly detached itself from the ground and was speeding towards her face.
Five men leapt down from the trees, each picking up their own earthy weapon. Azula began to blast out her blue flames as Sokka sliced a boulder in two.
"It's that crazy fire bitch, the princess!" One called excitedly. "She'd be worth a lot to the right people."
Sokka stepped in front of her, sword at the ready.
"I don't think so, pal," he said, before Azula shoved him to the side.
"Out of the way!" She hissed, unleashing a lightning strike on an earthbender that was about to launch a stone at Sokka's unprotected head. He screamed and twitched, sinking to the ground.
This angered the other rogue earthbenders, who began a barrage of soil projectiles. Sokka's black blade flashed, shredding any attacks sent his way. Azula simply sent a steady stream of azure fire, incinerating anything caught in its path.
The pair stood back to back against the four remaining enemies, two on each side.
Whenever their foes ran out of earth to pelt them with, they tore new chunks from the ground, so there were holes all over the area. A few trees had been clipped by Azula's offence and had caught ablaze, adding to the confusion.
They danced around, occasionally switching places, intercepting attacks meant for the other. Their minds were so focused and similar, they were practically in sync, almost knowing exactly where their partner would be.
One by one, the earthbenders succumbed.
Space Sword scythed clearly into an arm, cutting through the earthbender's leather armour without difficulty and taking the limb clean off. The wound prevented him from earthbending in retaliation, allowing Sokka to smash his forehead with the hilt of his blade.
Azula was less merciful. One of her opponents was to slow to dodge and caught the full force of her assault, becoming completely engulfed by flame.
Just as they had dealt with the final earthbenders, two more appeared from behind them. It seemed the two Sokka had heard earlier had caught wind of the fighting.
Slight tiredness set in, slowing Sokka's reactions down a bit. This unfortunately lead to a rock striking his chest, throwing him to the ground. The earthbender stood above him, a huge stone raised to attack.
Just before he could finish off the stunned Water Tribe Warrior, Azula charged in, her flames wild but strong. They whipped through the air, biting into the earthbender's flesh, leaving charred marks where they struck. He collapsed, his flesh melting.
Unfortunately, she had abandoned the enemy she had been fighting to defend Sokka. He had taken advantage of this, sending three chunks of earth towards her back. They slammed into her armour, sending her crumpling to the ground.
Sokka whipped out his boomerang, the weapon flying through the air. The sharp edge caught the man on the side of the neck, cutting deep into his carotid artery. He dropped instantly, blood spurting from the lethal wound.
Sokka crawled over to the fallen form of Azula. Her armour was dented from the strikes, but she was still breathing.
"Azula? Are you alright?" He asked.
She opened one golden eye, fixing it on him.
"That was careless, peasant. He nearly killed you," she said, somewhat strained.
Sokka stared at her in disbelief, before indignation coursed through him.
"I was careless? You were the one who turned your back on an enemy!" He exclaimed.
"To save your worthless hide," Azula responded, pulling herself into an upright position.
Sokka scoffed, but said nothing. The two sat there for a moment, before Sokka struggled to his feet.
He offered his hand to Azula, who considered it a moment, before taking a hold of it. He wrenched her back up to standing, still holding her hand for a moment.
He looked around, staring at the burning plants and corpses.
"Can you put that out? That could spread pretty far."
Azula nodded, pulling her fingers free of his and extinguishing the raging blaze. She looked up at the rising smoke.
"I'll wager the Avatar will see that, he might even be making his way here now," she said.
Sokka considered this.
"That could be bad. You know how he feels about killing,"
Azula shrugged her shoulders disinterestedly.
"We were here to stop the attacks. They have been stopped. What more is there to say? They tried to kill us, we killed them first."
Sokka looked at her.
"Y'know, some would say that is exactly why you have no friends."
He laughed at her narrowed eyes, before a thought occurred to him.
"I didn't kill one of them, I only cut off his arm. Maybe we can get some information out of him."
He looked through the bodies, attempting to find the one-armed bandit.
"Peasant, over here." Azula said, and he turned to her. She was standing over a somewhat seared looking cadaver.
"I don't think you're going to get much out of this one. Looks like he bled out," she stated. "And then caught on fire."
Sokka winced.
"Well, let's just hope that was all of them, then."
Surrounded by burnt mess, blood and shattered rocks, Sokka felt surprisingly unbothered by the carnage. He watched Azula wipe her bloodstained fingers on an unblemished bit of the corpse's clothing.
He called her name, softly and she looked at him.
"Thanks. For saving my life earlier, I mean," he told her.
She appraised him for a moment, before nodding once.
"Think nothing of it, peasant. I suppose you saved mine also. That makes us even," she muttered.
That had only been because she had left herself open to protect him, but he decided against mentioning that. It had been hard enough to thank her.
"You can call me Sokka, you know. I know you know my name."
She gazed at him, before shrugging slightly.
"I suppose. …Sokka." She tried the name out. It sounded somewhat weird without the mocking inflection she'd used during the day of the Eclipse.
"I guess we did learn to get along after all," he laughed. "Aang would be proud."
Azula raised an eyebrow.
"Perhaps. This doesn't make us friends."
Sokka stepped forward, pulling wrapping an arm around her side and pulling her flush against him.
"No? Two people fighting side by side in a deadly battle against many foes? That's bonding material, right there," he declared.
"Remove yourself from my person immediately or else." Azula demanded.
Sokka did not.
"Post-fight friendly hugs are mandatory, Azula. Now that you're one of the good guys, you have to do good guy stuff. Without maiming people because of it."
Lips pursed in indignation, Azula stewed silently but chose not to brutalise Sokka for his invasion of her personal space. There was something strangely comforting about his touch.
Of course, when Katara and Aang eventually arrived, looking like they'd sprinted quite far, she immediately shoved him off and set him on fire a little bit.
But still, Sokka thought, progress was progress.