Katara wakes up and it takes her a moment to realize where she is, amongst the ash and the blackened trees. She never got used to being away from the ice and snow. And although half of the trees are blackened or harvested, she finds the foliage incredibly impressive. And then she remembers that she will be getting used to white, blue and frostbite once more because her father is sending he back to the Southern Water Tribe.

"Katara, I want to talk to you," Sokka says gently, appearing from behind a line of tents, and Katara's heart jumps into her throat. It is not the kind of thing Sokka says; he usually just makes sarcastic comments in passing. "They've been discussing plans."

"The plans to jump the royal procession?" Katara sits straight up, suddenly very awake.

"The plan to infiltrate the Fire Nation."

"That's a bit of a leap from an attack on the princess," Katara says softly, eyebrows shooting up. Sometimes she does not know what gets into these people. She supposes their hope is good, but sometimes it can lead to overconfidence, which leads to bloodshed. "And, Sokka, you do know that we're getting sent back to the South Pole? If dad thinks it's dangerous..."

"I've been thinking it through. Come on; you're involved."

It sounds incredibly ominous.

Later that night, Katara sits around the fire. They live in these woods like savages. It disturbs her that she had to leave her frosty home and live without footprints. But stopping the Fire Nation means everything to her. She is waiting for them to tell her exactly what they mean by infiltrate the Fire Nation. She cannot let her dad do that, let him risk himself in that way. There has to be another choice.

"We'll make our first stop back at the South Pole. It's more strategic to approach the Fire Nation from there, as their ships have less of a patrol in that direction. We were no threat to them, none at all," Hakoda explains as Katara toys with the hem of her blue, singed skirt.

It got the burns in a fight she found herself in; and she struggled to get out of it, to her shame and dismay. Being part of the rebellion involves more than Katara imagined it would be. It involves the scent of charred flesh and the feeling of helplessness. They may come across one or two rebels per several miles, but the oceans of Fire Nation soldiers are infinite.

"But what about the princess?" Katara demands. "She'll be done with her tour by the time you're ready to get there."

"We sent our friends from the other encampment to make an attempt on her life."

"They'll die," Katara murmurs, as Sokka grits his teeth about being sent home instead of on this mission. He can't let dad die too. Not after mom.

Hakoda knows that, but he does not acknowledge his daughter's lament for their lives.

"They said that we had to be prepared to take it up another step. If we're aiming high now, we're aiming high now. The Fire Nation is on the brink of a civil war, according to all of our informants. We need to be there now, before the rebels are taken out. That was... what they asked for, actually. They said they would attack the princess if we gave them the support of our soldiers," Hakoda says and Katara knows they are obsessed with the Fire Nation collapsing on itself.

Half of what she hears about is how the Fire Nation is about to have a civil war. But Katara does not think it will come to pass. Or maybe, she sometimes allows herself to hope, they are violent enough that they need war to survive as a country, even if it is a war within their own borders.

And so Katara and the gang of rebels with her under their wing set out for the Southern Water Tribe. It is a three week journey and Katara spends the entire time practicing. Her waterbending is still weak and untrained, but she puts everything into it and manages to summon several waves.

She is so glad to be home when she sees it. The air is cold and bites at her dark skin, but she is content, very content. And then she feels her stomach twist when she thinks about the price of the contentedness; her dad is going into the Fire Nation and probably won't return.

When she sets foot on snow, her body is filled with powerful relief. She runs across it, reveling in the cold wind that flushes her cheeks. She hugs her Gran-Gran first and then looks around at the tribe. But she finds them lacking; people are missing.

"Did more people join the rebellion?" Katara asks her grandmother, studying her closely. But her expression reads something else entirely. Katara's stomach turns to ice.

"The Fire Nation raided us again," is all Gran-Gran says and Katara asks no more.

Katara tries to breathe and feels herself choking slightly. Maybe they could have saved their neighbors if they had not been in the Earth Kingdom blowing up supply lines and trying to help the ragged rebels of another nation. Katara bitterly slips into her house, drawing her knees to her chest and trying not to cry.


Meanwhile, on Azula's victory tour.

"This is gross," Mai complains, looking at the town they're stopping in. It does not even count as a town; it is more of a grungy stop off of the main road. A long path cuts through the entire Fire Nation, leading from Caldera to the westernmost city. And it is that road that they will follow for this tour that Mai completely agrees with Azula about being pointless.

"It's not awful," Ty Lee offers, pointedly helping Azula out of her palanquin. They glance at each other with darting eyes as their fingertips linger for too long. Mai makes mental note to get to the bottom of whatever it is that is making them more awkward.

"It's pretty awful," Azula declares and neither Mai or Ty Lee voice another opinion. "So, bodyguards, let's find our room."

Mai rolls her eyes but no one sees it, and Azula guides her friends to the inn. The town consists of a small market, a pointless shop for odds and ends, two decrepit houses and an inn. The inn seems to be in the best shape, clearly frequently used. Why people would want to go on lengthy trips through the boring Fire Nation, Mai has no idea.

Azula reaches the front door and is blocked by Admiral Zhao. She thought she told him to stay out of her way.

"I'll escort you. You're three young girls and shouldn't be walking into these places on your own. You never know what can happen outside of the city," he says slowly, examining the three of them. Mai swallows, Ty Lee squints at him and Azula sighs with pointed regality.

"Fine, fine, have it your way," Azula begrudgingly agrees, making a point to display that she is in control. It entirely goes over Zhao's head, who seems quite pleased with his position of escorting the Fire Lord's daughter through her propaganda tour.

They are led, all three displeased, by Zhao into the inn. It is trying too hard to be quaint and failing at it. Azula sticks her nose up but her friends do not seem to care. Zhao speaks to the woman at the desk, commanding, rude. He will not go far outside of military; he speaks like a conceited general, not a representative of the Fire Nation.

Azula finds her way to her room and drags her friends inside without another word to her escort. She never thought she could despise someone so much. It is the way he embodies the opposite of her firebending, perhaps. You can tell a lot about a bender when you have enough knowledge, and Zhao is the worst kind of firebender.

No control. None at all. But he wants control.

Just like father cannot handle power. Not at all. But he wants power.

Enough to destroy his family for it.

Azula would not do that. Probably. But that is what Ozai is so afraid of. That his daughter could grow up to be just like him.

"You look pretty spacey," Ty Lee remarks loudly, tearing Azula from her thoughts violently. Azula purses her lips and does not answer. Mai lies down on the creaky bed in the nicest room of the inn and exhales forcefully.

"This is the worst vacation ever," Mai complains, plucking up parts of the knit blankets and playing with them in her nimble fingers, honed by arrows and blades.

"I agree entirely," Azula replies, walking to the window and staring out. Nothingness for miles. Just the road and a single sign to the next city; her second appearance will be there, and it will kick off her journey to the west.

Mai glances at Ty Lee's discomfort as she studies Azula. Something has definitely happened between them behind Azula being so pissed about the whole circus thing. But Azula's abandonment issues are not shocking news. There is definitely something more lingering beneath the surface. And Mai just wants to dig it up and pry it apart.

"I suppose we should sleep or something. Not that we could in this disgusting place. The Earth Kingdom was almost nicer. Given, it looked much better on fire," Azula says with a careless shrug. Mai raises her eyebrows at the tossing around of genocide. But she supposes she should be used to it by now. Azula revels in her success during the comet and, as disgusting as it is, Mai supposes she has earned it.

"Azula, you should be nicer to Admiral Zhao," Ty Lee says and Mai and Azula are both stunned. They put down their respective activities and simply stare. "Just think about his life right now. He's a decorated Admiral who is currently babysitting you. That's his job. Not... Admiral stuff. He's essentially a nanny now."

Azula narrows her eyes; Mai laughs.

"You can't tell me what to do," Azula says, gritting her teeth. "You're on this trip to serve me not to─"

"Azula, please just take a joke," Mai sighs and Azula's eyes flash like a golden blade in the sun. "We know we're your slaves for eternity because we sat next to you at lunch during school, but you don't have to rub it in all the time."

Azula hesitates, briefly offended. But she laughs momentarily. For a flicker of a second Ty Lee's heart hurts; they will always be closer, won't they? Mai can say what she wants. Ty Lee is just going to be used and silenced.

She decides to duck out of the room and pointedly write her report to Fire Lord Ozai.

Being around Azula is getting too difficult, and the tour has barely begun.


Azula gives her first speech of the tour. It is bright, brilliant and bold. People watch with bright eyes, breathless. She is the closest thing the Fire Nation has to a celebrity and that is evident. The city has a stage meant for executions; they are stereotypically popular. But now it is decorated for the guest speaker, who extends the hand of good will from Fire Lord Ozai.

"Freedom dies if you do not use it," Azula opens with. Utter silence at her words. "That's something I personally have learned over the years. I think as a Nation we want to achieve freedom in solidarity. The military in the Earth Kingdom was broken into rigid ranks and squabbling leaders of towns who offered soldiers. They had no aims as a nation as a whole. They were not a Kingdom. They were running on archaic anarchy and brute violence."

Azula revels in the moment. The people feed off of her words. Mostly because she tells them what they want to hear. As she stands in a glorious ruby dress that is incredibly impractical if someone were to attempt to assassinate her right now, made-up like her father's lovely doll to plaster walls with the image of, she feels powerful.

Soon that power will be gone.

"We have tradition, pride, a status quo, yes. But the generals told the children they sent on the front lines with little training, only to die in vain, told them that the Fire Nation was some kind of totalitarian regime. That is propaganda and an absolute lie. We believe in freedom. Freedom from the bonds of the old ways. We incite industry. And a man can be born on a dirt farm and wind up in a mansion in Caldera mere years later. We incite freedom."

Pause. It is the perfect moment for a pause. She can almost feel the unbridled nationalism. It is cute from people who have no idea how corrupt and sick the nation is at its core. They only see the propaganda, not what Azula sees in war rooms.

"The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when all hope of a better life for the people has died. That hope died long ago in the Earth Kingdom. They were a diseased plant that would spread its illness if we allowed it to. And, so, to ensure that our people would remain free, so we would not let our hope die, we annihilated them. Like burning off the dead leaves on a plant to keep it from dying as a whole."

Metaphors, metaphors. She feels quite clever during her next pause. Someone could hear a pin drop across town. It is fairly fun.

"Great responsibility was put upon us as a nation by my great grandfather. And in the comet named for him, we took responsibility and stomped out a totalitarian regime that threatened our freedom. I watched Ba Sing Se crumble myself." Pause. "I burned off the diseased branches on the tree of the Fire Nation Empire."

Azula waits. Breathlessness from the crowd.

"If we falter in our leadership in this coming times as we build a new life from the ash of the comet, we may endanger the peace of our world and will surely destroy the welfare of our nation."

Azula stops again. She glances between the peasants who believe only what comes from her forked tongue.

"That is all I need you to know. My father and I stand with you, the people of our nation, regardless of your military rank or societal status. And we offer you freedom. Thank you."

The applause is thunderous. Azula has to bite the inside of her lip to keep from smirking. It went over even better than she intended it to, and she intended for it to be powerful.

Azula slips away from the stage, seized by her 'bodyguards' at each side. They make it to the courthouse by the executioner's stage. It is deserted for the purpose of briefly housing the princess.

"That was pretty amazing," Ty Lee says, batting her eyes blithely. Azula shrugs. "Oh, don't say you've done better. It was really amazing. Did you write that yourself?"

"Of course," Azula says earnestly. "I wouldn't just recite a script some old man handed me, would I?"

And then there is a loud crash. Azula's neck snaps up as she sees what has happened; a rock smashed through the windows of the courthouse. And suddenly, men in masks are in flight directly at Azula. Such a poor wardrobe choice, is all Azula can fathom as a series of knives collide with the neck of one of the men.

She tears from her dress as a jet of flame comes at her. With one finger she blocks it, dancing out of the expensive fabric. The firebender tries again but Ty Lee stops him; he falls to the ground, useless.

A rebellion Azula knew little about; why this never was spoken of to her by her father is baffling. With a few carefully timed blue explosions, two of the assailants fall dead and charred. Perhaps the rebellion is why Ozai is so paranoid of Azula. It would explain a good deal of him sending her on a propaganda tour and forcibly engaging her for marriage.

Mai slices out the throat of one, Ty Lee snaps the neck of a woman, and Azula finishes the last with a bolt of lightning. Azula walks to the man she just slew and lifts the mask from his face. Indistinguishable from anyone else in the homogenous Fire Nation. So they are her people. So they are.

"We're pretty good bodyguards, Mai!" Ty Lee exclaims as Azula is contemplating why she has never heard of rebellion before. "Oh, Azula, you... you aren't wearing..."

"I'm mostly dressed," Azula snarls and Ty Lee recoils with one finger still pointing at Azula's chest.

"You're mostly in your underwear," Mai corrects calmly and Azula rolls her eyes.

"I mostly just saved our lives." It is not necessarily true, but no one corrects her. Mai and Ty Lee had just as much to do with defeating the abrupt invaders, but arguing with the princess is ill advised.

Zhao and the nameless soldiers walk in belatedly. They were dealing with the crowds, handling the fans, while Azula was assaulted by insurgents.

"Would you care to explain to me why I was told nothing about insurgents in the Fire Nation?" Azula demands icily, giving Zhao a glare worthy of her father. She learned many of her coercive mannerisms from him, and they never fail him.

Zhao hesitates. "Would you care to explain to me why you're undressed where anyone could see you? You have standards to uphold."

"I was just almost murdered. Do you notice the bodies around you?" Azula gestures at corpses and a blood splattered floor. Zhao did notice it when he came in, but he was quickly distracted by the princess's appearance. "Tell me why I wasn't told about a rebellion."

"The rebellion isn't important. It's not strong enough to cause real damage," Zhao explains, rehearsed words forced into his mouth to be regurgitated. Azula purses her red lips. "But clearly they stepped out of line by attacking you. Apparently your bodyguards are competent. I'm surprised."

Mai snorts derisively and Zhao ignores her.

"I expect a report about them before my next appearance. This clearly isn't the last of whatever they have planned."

Their masks are of Fire Nation spirits. Why would people who loved their Nation attack Azula? She is the ideal of the Fire Nation. The idea of rebellion within her country and not just the Earth Kingdom concerns the princess, but she looks completely collected as Ty Lee finds her clothes and the bodies are carried out by soldiers.

Azula blushes uncomfortably as Ty Lee's hands brush against her bare abdomen when she hands Azula the clothes from the stylists of the royal procession. Ty Lee swallows, eyes wide momentarily as she realizes the flush on Azula's cheeks.

Sexual. Too sexual.

"I invited you into my bed, not my heart. If you wanted some incredible romance perhaps you shouldn't have run off to the circus. You never would have seen me again if it weren't for the comet," Azula says bitterly, tying the strings on the back of her bra. "So don't act like we're dating."

Ty Lee recoils, pulling blankets over her naked form like a child afraid of monsters in the night.

"We should get moving before we're... interrupted again," Zhao says as soon as Azula is dressed. The watering down of Zhao's words comes from political training. It is almost as sickening as Azula's. He seems twisted but she is far more practiced at putting up a variety of facades.

Ty Lee moves to help Mai clean the blood off her body, although it is unnecessary. She seems to just think that it will prove she isn't just helping Azula. That they are a trio.

And after a good speech and an intriguing fight in the middle of a small city, the royal procession moves on without further hindrance.


It's dark, cold, and rainy tonight in the small city where Azula first spoke. These are exactly three states of weather Azula despises. The window is open and she does not have the will in her to get up and close it, so frigid rain drips onto the scratched wooden floors of the inn. She feels her head surging with pain.

"What's wrong?" a voice whispers beside her, high and overly warm. Much warmer than the cold night.

"I have a headache. Migraine. It isn't important," Azula replies with a pointed sigh. She cannot let on her discomfort, nor her anxiety about whatever it is her father has planned for her.

The silence is deafening until a hand touches hers. Light, smooth fingers brush across Azula's palm and she swallows. This cannot happen; this is not allowed to happen.

"I'm not being frisky. I'm fixing your headache," Ty Lee says softly, blushing when she notices Azula's expression. She sets the back of Azula's hand on her abdomen, her skin bare and heated from the thick down blankets.

And with a single motion, Ty Lee presses down in the inside of Azula's palm with her thumb. It hurts for a flicker of a second, but then all Azula can feel is relief of her headache. Bliss. Hm.

"That's impressive," Azula says, smirking faintly. "No more headache."

"Pressure points aren't just for, uh, soldier stuff," Ty Lee chirps before feeling awkward.

Her stomach is twisting and churning as she feels the discomfort between she and Azula. Their reunion when Ty Lee returned from the circus was... unpleasant. But pleasant at the same time. Indescribable feelings exist between them and Azula does a far better job at suppressing them than Ty Lee does.

"I'll keep that in mind," Azula replies quietly before turning on her side. Her breath is on Ty Lee's neck and it makes the acrobat break out in goosebumps. "Shut the window, will you?"

Ty Lee exhales a sigh of relief as if she thought Azula would say something more sinister. But Ty Lee nods and leaps out of the bed gracefully, walking to the window and sealing it shut. The glass and wood creak and Mai stirs in her deep slumber.

Azula closes her eyes and realizes sleep will never come. Ty Lee sits at the end of the bed and fidgets.

If she could mend the rift between she and Azula...

And somehow break the sexual tension...

She would be feeling significantly more optimistic about this propaganda tour.