Chapter 4: Eros (Romantic Love)
"Have things changed since the last time you were here?" Sokka asked Azula as the pair walked down the crowded sandy aisles of the arcade. Considering the sun had already set, the warrior was surprised to find so many people out and about. He had hoped for some alone time with the princess, but it seemed he was out of luck.
"Well, the arcade has certainly expanded. That's for sure."
He got the impression she wasn't referring to any new games or attractions, but rather the unsightly rotund person slobbering away at an ice cream cone in their direct line of sight. Admiring her cruel, twisted sense of humor, he snickered.
Out of nowhere, a scrawny teenage boy jumped up in front of them to catch a ball his friend tossed him, accidentally shoulder-checking the firebender in the process. "Sorry!" he shouted half-heartedly, continuing to run through the crowd with his friend.
Azula turned her head and shot them a death glare.
"Are you okay?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, rubbing her sore shoulder. "I didn't realize Ember Island would become so touristy after the war."
He chuckled. "Nothing wrong with a little mixing of cultures, now is there?"
"No," she shrugged, "I suppose not."
This made him smile. "Anyway, those boys were pretty rude – I'm surprised you didn't firebend at them. Don't they know who you are?"
"No." She grinned. "That's the beauty of Ember Island. No one knows who I am."
"And that's a good thing? I thought you liked the royal treatment."
"I do, but… sometimes I don't want to be treated like a princess. Here I can be anybody. Or nobody."
The sullen tone of her voice with those last two words was alarming. The warrior hoped she'd continue her thought, but much to his chagrin, something else caught her attention.
"Ooh, look!" She ran over to one of the games. "Street Bender!"
"What's that?"
"It's a fighting game. I used to play it all the time." Her eyes lit up. "Tomorrow, we have to play it! You, me, Zuzu, and Jet, presuming my brother hasn't already blown his chance."
He found her excitement endearing. "Why tomorrow when the two of us could play right now?"
"Because tonight, I'd like to hit up a party."
"Yeah? I didn't realize you were a crazy party animal."
"I'm not." She continued to walk through the arcade. "But sometimes it's fun to just… cut loose, you know?"
"Yeah – "
"Would you like to come with me?"
His stomach summersaulted. "Like… as a – "
"Who knows, maybe you'll meet someone."
"I-Is that what you plan on doing?!" he panicked.
"Mmhmm." She smirked. "If I'm lucky."
Just as soon as he got his hopes up, they fell. Hard.
The young adults at the beach party sort of reminded Sokka of Chong and the other free-spirited nomads he met on the way to Omashu. Except drunker. Much drunker.
Around the perimeter, people were banging on drums, blowing into flutes, strumming pipas, creating a whirlwind of rhythm and sound. In the center, others danced like there was no tomorrow.
The warrior had never seen people dance quite like that before. It was like the music was flowing through their veins, taking control of their movements. Much to his surprise, Azula jumped right in. He knew she wanted to cut loose, but he hadn't expected her to abandon all inhibition just like that. It was astonishing. He couldn't take his eyes off her. How was he going to work up the nerve to join in and dance with her?
It didn't take long before the princess started receiving male attention. She was soon swarmed by a sea of men, all vying to be noticed.
Though he was being a bit of a wallflower, several girls approached Sokka as well. He tried to be polite, but he wasn't really listening to any of them. Not with his sight on Azula. He watched a handsome stranger take the firebender's hand and spin her around before pulling her closer to him. That was the final straw. He pardoned himself from the ladies and danced his way over to the princess.
Azula felt a warm hand on her hipbone and the sultry motion of someone swaying his hips behind her. She liked what she was feeling. This stranger seemed intuitively attuned to her every movement. A fire stirred within. She didn't even realize the other man with whom she was dancing had given up and moved on to someone else.
Sokka spun her around and wrapped his arms around her lower back, continuing to sway his hips to the music.
Instinctively draping her arms around his neck, she finally became face-to-face with the suave stranger. She smirked up at him in the moonlight. "Green is not a flattering color on you."
So she could tell he was jealous. "Who are you kidding? I look great in everything." He smirked back at her.
"Those other ladies didn't pique your interest?"
"Not at all. Not when there's only one girl on my mind…"
"You're trouble," she whispered.
"Indeed I am," he growled, pulling her flush against his chest. "And tonight… you can bet I'm not going to treat you like a princess."
Her heart was pounding. She had always been attracted to the wolf-tailed warrior, but tonight, he was really something else. "And what do you intend to do with me that you would not do with a princess?"
He grazed his lips against her ear and whispered, "This." Then he picked her up bridal style and started carrying her toward the shore.
"Sokka! Sokka, don't you dare!" she laughed, almost giggling.
He kept on walking while she pleaded for him to stop until he was waist deep in the ocean.
"MAY THE SPIRITS HAVE MERCY ON YOU IF YOU – "
He threw her into the water.
"SOKKA!" she shouted, treading water, "You SAVAGE! It's absolutely frigid!"
"It is not," he laughed, swimming up next to her. "It's like bath water! All you Fire Nation folk are spoiled."
"Well, I'm freezing."
"Oh yeah?"
"Feel my hands."
He took her hands in his and the world around him disappeared. "Wow. You are cold." He moved a little closer to her. "I'd better keep you warm then." He pulled her close to him, placing his hands on her hips, gazing into her bright yellow eyes.
She stared back up at him, her heart beating out of control.
Bringing one hand up to her neck, he brushed her soft skin with his thumb to the underside of her chin. He closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her lips, but he stopped when he felt her turn her head to the side at the last second.
"Sokka," she breathed, pulling away from him with sadness in her eyes.
His chest ached. "I-I'm sorry. I must have misread – "
"No. You didn't. I… I just don't think this is a good idea."
"Why not?"
"Because…" She sighed languidly. "You wouldn't understand."
"I wouldn't understand or you don't want to tell me?" He was getting irritated. They had been flirting nonstop for weeks. Had she just been toying with him this whole time?
"It's complicated, I'm – "
"You think you're too good for me, don't you?"
"N-No, it's not like – "
"Because you're royalty and I come from nothing. That's it, isn't it?"
"Sokka, stop it!" she cried, "It's nothing like that!"
"Then what is it?!"
"Ugh!" she exhaled. "I don't want to be your rebound, okay?!"
He was taken aback.
"Look, I've… only ever kissed one boy before. Here actually. Chan."
He recalled the name.
"And he literally ran away from me immediately afterward – "
"Well, I wouldn't – "
"No. Maybe you wouldn't leave right now, or tonight, or tomorrow, or even next week, but… someday you would leave me. And… I really like you, Sokka. But I can't stand the thought of getting hurt again."
"What makes you say I'd leave?"
"Because your 'feelings' for me aren't real!"
He opened his mouth to interject, but she stopped him.
"You were with Suki for years! You have all that history together. All those memories. I don't know much about relationships, or love at all for that matter, but I'd like to think that all those feelings can't just disappear in the matter of weeks. Sokka, you two just broke up not even a month ago!"
"I know it's soon, but I promise you, what I feel for you is without a doubt real. You're all I ever think about. And… I know Suki and I only broke up recently, but our relationship has been over for a long time. Maybe even years. We were trying to hold onto something that wasn't there. I moved on from her a while ago."
"Really?" she whispered.
"Yeah, but beyond any of that, Azula, you could never be anyone's rebound. You're the most incredible girl I've ever met. You drive me absolutely insane, and even though we've been spending a lot of time together, I… I just want to be around you all the time, I – "
She cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him passionately.
He deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue into her eager mouth.
She had chosen to believe his words, to take a leap of faith and give into the feelings she had fought so hard to suppress. Maybe one day she'd regret it, but tonight, he was hers and she was his, and that was all that mattered.
Her hips were pressed right up against his, and he could feel them pushing toward him ever so slightly as her hunger grew. Spirits, kissing her like this was hot. Sparks were flying every which way. Before his excitement got out of hand, he broke the kiss. "Hey, Azula," he panted.
"Mm?" she grinned.
"Why don't we take this somewhere a little more private?"
She bit her lip and nodded.
"Azula…" Zuko greeted uncomfortably, stepping out of his bedroom the following morning. With his hair all disheveled and no shirt to conceal the marks and bruises on his chest, there was no hiding what had gone down last night. Why did he have to leave his room at the exact same time as his sister?! From the looks of it, she appeared to be in a similar state of disorder.
"Good morning, Zuzu." She flashed him an awkward smile as she attempted to straighten out her loosely tied sleep robe.
"You're, uh, up later than usual."
"Yeah…" She shifted her eyes. "I must be on vacation time."
"Right." He shuffled his feet, trying hard not to stare at the hickey on her neck. "Well… I was just about to make some breakfast – "
"And I was just about to take a shower – "
Sokka chose that exact moment to come out of Azula's room with nothing but a towel tied around his waist. He went to wrap his arms around the princess but stopped when he saw Zuko. "Hey there, buddy…"
"Hey…"
"You look… like you didn't sleep much last night." He grinned.
"Yeah… you too." The Fire Lord was torn between giving his friend a high-five and punching him in the face. "Well, I won't keep you two from your shower…"
Azula blushed.
Just then, Jet stepped out of Zuko's room, also shirtless. "Oh. Hey, everyone." He turned to the blue-eyed warrior. "Sokka, it's been a while…"
"Yeah, it's uh… good to see you're alive."
"You too, I guess."
"It's nice to meet you, Jet," Azula said, extending her hand toward the Earth Kingdom rebel.
He took her hand and placed the back of it to his lips. "It's a pleasure."
"Really?" Zuko questioned with a disapproving tone.
"What?" Jet asked defensively. "It's not every day you get to meet a royal princess."
"Zuzu, I must say," Azula smirked with rouged cheeks, looking at Jet and back at her brother, "you've done quite well for yourself."
"Thanks," he replied dryly at the backhanded compliment.
Sokka, feeling a bit possessive, put his arm around the princess.
"So, um…" The Fire Lord scratched the back of his head. "Are you two, like, a couple now?"
Azula smiled warmly up at Sokka. "Well, we talked about it last night, and… yes. We decided to give the whole boyfriend, girlfriend thing a shot."
The warrior leaned down and kissed the firebender on the top of her head.
"That's great! I'm happy for you two, though… I'm gonna need some time to get used to it."
"And what about you two?" the princess asked, looking at her brother and Jet.
"We too talked last night – "
Jet smirked mischievously.
" – but we've decided to take things slow. For now. We're just getting reacquainted and don't want to rush into anything quite yet."
"But we'll see where things go," Jet purred, wrapping his arms around Zuko's waist from behind.
"I think that's wonderful," Azula beamed.
"And now you have you answer for Mai," Sokka added.
"Yeah." Zuko nodded with a smile on his face, interlacing his fingers with Jet's. "Yes I do."
So it seemed Ember Island had worked its magic once again. Azula allowed herself to be vulnerable and accept love into her life, Sokka finally got the girl of his dreams, Jet found a stable relationship for once in his life, and Zuko became confident in his decision to move on from Mai. And all of these ragged edges had been smoothed within a day of arrival, leaving the four friends two more days to enjoy each other's company in the summer sun.
