A loud noise woke Sokka with a start the next morning. Someone was banging the room's door nonstop, to his absolute annoyance.

"Master Sokka!" said the voice of a servant of the Palace "Fire Lord Zuko demands your presence!"

The Water Tribe teenager frowned and groaned. He felt tempted to pretend he was deaf just to get out of an annoying meeting with Zuko… why did Zuko want to see him in the first place? He'd been staying around for about two weeks and not even once had the Fire Lord expressed any wish or need to see him at all… why summon him now, when he was resting peacefully among bandages and soft sheets?

Maybe… because he'd found out about what had happened between him and Azula.

The thought terrified him and forced him to get off of bed as fast as possible. He had to explain things to Zuko, it wasn't as bad as it had seemed! And if he was worried about his wounds, he shouldn't be! He'd been the one to put himself in the line of fire rather than running away, so it wasn't Azula's fault, he had earned those burns!

He limped all the way to his closet as he looked for the quickest set of clothes he could wrap himself in, but there wasn't much for him to wear that could cover up the bandages that ran all over his abdomen and some of his chest. To his utter embarrassment and distaste, he found himself taking a long red robe with golden embroidery on its edges, typical Fire Nation clothing. He hated wearing anything other than Water Tribe clothes, but it was unavoidable in this case; the red-and-gold robe was the one thing he could actually wear that might cover properly his wounds…

"Master Sokka!" kept calling the servant outside, to his utmost irritation

"I'm coming! Wait a second!" he yelled as he tied the robe a little too tight, hurting his burns "DAMN!"

"E-excuse me, sir, but I wasn't sure if you were listening…" said the servant, afraid Sokka had complained because of his pestering

"Uh… w-well, you woke me up!" he said, trying to act as natural as possible as he walked to the door, doing his best to walk properly while masking the agonic pain he felt on each wound on his upper body

"I apologize, Master Sokka" said the man, bowing down at him, to Sokka's surprise

"Master?" he said "Why am I master, if I can ask?"

"You're the Fire Lord's friend! It's a title for any friend of the Fire Lord!" said the servant

"Right… why did he call me, again?" asked Sokka, as the servant began leading the way

"He didn't say" muttered the servant "He only tasked me to bring you to the Palace's front gate, I don't know anything about his reasons…"

"I see…" muttered Sokka, and he gulped. Maybe Zuko wanted him on the front gate to kick him out of the Palace for daring to touch his little sister…

They were silent all the way to their destination, and Sokka was lucky enough that the servant was surprisingly careless, so he didn't ask once about the grimaces of pain he showed once in a while, whenever the burns stung him too painfully to bear with a straight face.

When they finally arrived, the servant bowed and left. Sokka walked carefully towards the front gate and walked through it, terrified at the thought of what awaited him…

And that which awaited him was a worse blow than having Zuko banish him from the Fire Nation.

A group of girls clad in green clothes and dark grey armors stood around Zuko, who was smiling kindly at all the new arrivals to the Palace. Sokka's eyes widened with horror now… he had completely forgotten the reason why he'd come all the way to the Capital in the first place.

"Oh, there he is!" said Zuko after spotting him, smiling broadly "You'll finally stop being so bored, huh, Sokka?" he asked, grinning

"He was bored?" said an old man, who was standing among the Kyoshi Warriors. His growing belly and joyous stance were enough to identify him from a distance "My nephew, how could you let a guest be bored in the Palace? That's unprecedented!"

"Sorry, Uncle…" said Zuko, shrugging "I was really busy, and Sokka showed up uninvited…"

One of the girls left the group the second she saw him, and she sprinted at him with a huge smile on her face. Sokka couldn't stop looking at her in dismay, wondering how on earth he could even think of facing his girlfriend after what he'd done so thoughtlessly the day before…

"I can't believe you're here!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly

Sokka did the best he could to swallow the scream he should have let out once he felt Suki's weight crashing against his wounds.

"M-me neither…" he muttered, almost reduced to tears due to the pain

Suki finally stepped away from him and stared at him with gentle eyes and a heart-warming smile… which only made Sokka feel even guiltier than he already did

"Why did you come all the way here, silly?" she asked, laughing

"I just… I wanted to see you" he said, smiling as he tried to make this moment less awkward than it was

"Well, you should've let me know you were coming! Or you could have sent Zuko a letter, so you wouldn't come here to waste time" she said, shrugging "It must have been quite annoying, wandering around the Palace without anything to do… With Zuko being busy all the time, with the kitchen staff hunting you down and with Azula insulting you all day long…"

The mere mention of her name caused a small blush to creep up to Sokka's cheeks, but he smiled happily at Suki and tried to mask it as if it were nothing but genuine happiness of seeing her again

"But you're here now, so that'll make everything better" he said "By the way… weren't you girls escorting an ambassador? Why is Iroh with you?"

"We dropped the ambassador at the colony, as we were supposed to do" explained Suki "But Iroh sent a message asking if we could all travel together to the Capital, and that's what we did… and that's the reason why I took so long to get here" she admitted

"Why did he want to come here?" asked Sokka, surprised "I was sure he'd be spending the rest of his life in his teashop unless something bad happened…"

"He just took a break, I think" said Suki, looking at Iroh, who was embracing Zuko and almost smashing his bones due to his powerful grip "I think he missed his nephew"

"It seems like he did" said Sokka, smiling

Suki turned back at Sokka and looked at him up and down, raising an eyebrow

"What's with the Fire Nation getup, Sokka? It doesn't look bad on you… but it's weird anyway!"

Sokka blushed and shrugged

"I… I was sleeping and a crazy servant nearly knocked the door down so that I'd come here to see you, but he didn't even bother telling me you were here! He just said Zuko had summoned me, and this robe was the only thing I could grab before I left…" he lied, exaggerating the events, as usual.

"Your bad luck will never ever cease to amaze me" said Suki, laughing "But I'm so glad to see you again… it's been too long…"

Sokka panicked when she closed him for another hug, but he had no idea of how to stop her from embracing him… and he didn't.

"Uh…" he moaned, to her surprise

"What's wrong, Sokka?" asked Suki, pulling away from him

"I'm… just hungry" he improvised, smiling with discomfort

"Oh, I should've known" she said, grinning and shaking her head "I could use with some food myself. Let's go get some breakfast"

"Sure!" said Sokka, as enthusiastically as he could, and he followed Suki while trying not to show how badly hurt he was, but in truth, each step he took was killing him.

The worst part in all this mess was that he didn't know how to explain the truth to Suki if she ever found out what had happened… What if Azula, on some sort of envious and cruel fit, decided to tell her about their strange momentary affair just to make him suffer more?

He needed to talk to the Princess as soon as possible.

The headache growing in the very center of her forehead was messing so badly with her concentration it didn't even seem like she was herself anymore. Azula shook her head and tried to keep her mind in check as she toyed with the fried crab that was lying on her plate, but she couldn't bring herself to take a bite out of her breakfast at all.

She didn't even feel like herself anymore, she was too confused and troubled to think properly and calmly about the latest happenings in her life. Only two days ago everything seemed perfect, all had gone without a hitch, but all of sudden, everything was upside down because of that blasted Water Tribe peasant… what was wrong with him?! How had he dared do something so ridiculous?!

And… how come has she let him do it? She flushed wildly at the thought, the touch of his lips still vivid in her mind…

She shook her head even more, hoping the headache would grow and ensure she couldn't even think of anything other than the pain, but it didn't go her way at all. She tried to focus on the particular spot on her forehead where it hurt the most, and she closed her eyes as she attempted to cool her mind down by erasing every thought from it aside from the tiny sting on her head…

"I knew I'd find you here!" said a cheerful girl, startling her and knocking her out of her almost meditative state.

"W-wha…?" she said, staring at the door. She hadn't been expecting anyone at all

Wearing her Kyoshi Warrior outfit, Ty Lee had walked in the room without Azula noticing her. She wasn't particularly gifted at stealth, but the Princess was so distracted she didn't have to try too hard to surprise her with her arrival

"Oh, Ty Lee!" said Azula, flashing her friend the most awkward and crooked smile Ty Lee had ever seen "Good day to you. I… I had no idea you were already here!"

"I… I just got here" said Ty Lee, frowning as she studied her friend closely "Are you okay, Azula?"

"I… why wouldn't I be?" she said, still beaming in that strange manner

"Maybe because you're smiling at me as you'd smile to a kid if you wanted to make him pee his pants and cry to his mom for help…" said Ty Lee sitting down next to Azula, who stopped smiling at once

"I… I wasn't smiling in any particular way…" muttered Azula, looking at her food now. Ty Lee followed her eyes down to the plate and frowned, completely surprised

"You haven't even touched your breakfast" she said, worried "Azula… is something going on?"

"Will you stop pestering me?" asked Azula, taking a bite out of the crab, to Ty Lee's shock

"Well, now I know something's wrong!" she said, impressed

"W-what?" said Azula "It's not as if I don't eat crab!"

"Oh, you eat crab, alright…" said Ty Lee, staring at the plate with concern "But you don't eat crab first! You always eat all your vegetables first, and you eat the meat afterwards… but you're doing it the wrong way around this time!"

"H-how do you even know what I eat first?!" asked Azula, shocked "Do you stalk me, by any chance?!"

"Azula, we've been friends for AGES" said Ty Lee, rolling her eyes "I realized you ate that way when we were about ten. Just how dumb do you think I am, huh?"

"I don't think you're dumb, Ty Lee. Why must you make a dramatic scene out of everything?" she said, finally sounding like herself "You're worse than Zuko"

"I think I know better than to take that personally" said Ty Lee, sighing "Well, what happened? Why won't you just say it?"

"There's nothing to say, Ty Lee" grunted Azula, but just thinking about what she was hiding caused a small blush to appear on her face

Ty Lee smirked and giggled at seeing her friend's flustered face, to Azula's dismay

"I knew it! You finally found someone to hook up with, didn't you?"

"Of course not!" denied Azula, still blushing "There's no way I would be with anyone, Ty Lee! You know better than to say such nonsense!"

"Oh, you say all those things, but your face is saying otherwise!" said Ty Lee, grinning happily

"Please, Ty Lee, just… don't" said Azula, sighing as she shook her head "I'm not in the mood to explain any of this right now…"

Ty Lee frowned, worrying for real. She had never seen Azula as troubled as she was right now. What on earth could have happened to her that caused such turmoil within her?

"Hey… You can tell me" she said, reaching out to touch her hand "We're friends, aren't we? Besides, I pester you all the time whenever I find an interesting guy, so… why don't you tell me about yours?"

"Because he's the most opposite of interesting that anyone could ever be" growled Azula "He's… he's the worst. I really don't want to talk about this, Ty Lee…"

"It might make you feel a little better" said Ty Lee "And I could give you advice if you want some…"

"Advice?" said Azula "Well… that doesn't sound so bad, but even so, talking about this is too uncomfortable for me…"

"Don't worry" said Ty Lee "I'll keep it to myself, I promise! You have nothing to be afraid of!"

Azula found herself looking at Ty Lee in slight despair. Could the girl actually hear her story without judging her? Well, it was Ty Lee after all… but she didn't wish for her image to fall apart completely, so maybe there were a few things she should skip over…

"I… I was in my private room, the one I tend to go to… to think about some matters of importance" she muttered, and Ty Lee nodded

"Your forbidden room, yes. So…?"

"So, when I was there, someone… opened the door" muttered Azula

"Was it a servant?" asked Ty Lee, raising an eyebrow

"No, I wish it had only been a servant" muttered Azula "I could have just kicked him out of the Palace for sneaking up on me… but it wasn't him. It was Zuko's stupid friend… that idiotic, moronic, useless and pathetic peasant"

"Sokka?" asked Ty Lee, surprised "W-why was he there?"

"How should I know?!" asked Azula "I told him to leave, but he wouldn't obey me, so I… I attacked him. I sent several fire blasts at him, and it wasn't easy for him to avoid them, but to my surprise, he didn't just dodge them… he started to move towards me. I thought he only meant to tackle me savagely to stop me from striking him, but eventually I even ended up burning him… and that still didn't stop him from… f-from…"

"From what?" asked Ty Lee, worried

"F-from… embracing me" muttered Azula, blushing "I… I didn't get it. I still don't get it. Why did he want to do something like that? Why did he even bother doing anything other than running away…?"

"Well… maybe he just wanted to be friends with you and he thought running wasn't an option" said Ty Lee, smiling with optimism

"He wanted to be FRIENDS?!" repeated Azula "That's ridiculous! It doesn't make any sense at all! If that had been the case, why on earth did he kiss me afterwards?!"

Ty Lee's eyes widened in horror after Azula's statement. The Princess stared at her friend in mild concern, wondering why she was so upset to know she had been kissed by that Water Tribe peasant

"S-Sokka… kissed you?" she said "W-why did he do that?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" said Azula, hitting the table in irritation "He's… he's just the worst. And I couldn't do anything… why didn't I do anything? He was clearly just taking advantage of me!"

"But… Sokka doesn't take advantage of people…" muttered Ty Lee, concerned "Why would he do something like this to Suki…?"

"Didn't you hear whom he kissed?" asked Azula, completely confused at first. Eventually, she understood what Ty Lee was so worried about "O-oh… well, that's true. He couldn't just forget about his nice and pretty girlfriend, could he? Oh, I must have been dreaming, then!" she concluded, smiling "Or… maybe… I'm just being delusional once more" she added, with a slightly dark tone

"I don't think you were delusional" said Ty Lee, still slightly sad "Your hallucinations were about your mother, weren't they? You had them because you had serious issues, you were afraid she had always thought you were a monster and she was a small ghost within your mind that tried to prove you wrong… You had those episodes of delusions because, deep down, that was a trauma that went back for ages… right?"

"I… I guess. Were you reading my psychological report? "asked Azula, a little annoyed

"I took it from Zuko's desk the other day" she admitted, with a guilty smile "Anyway… I don't think you'd have hallucinations about Sokka unless you had a trauma of about the same magnitude… and I'm sure you don't. I mean, you don't even like him, do you?"

"Like him? Please…" said Azula, rolling her eyes "He's just a stupid peasant. Don't even ask something so pointless, Ty Lee"

"Then… why would you have any delusions or dreams about him?" asked Ty Lee, raising an eyebrow "I believe both dreams and hallucinations are linked to your subconscious self… so if you're not interested in him in the slightest, you wouldn't dream or hallucinate about him"

"What you're saying actually makes sense" admitted Azula, to her dismay "So… it was real? It… it really happened?"

"I guess it did…" muttered Ty Lee. She felt profusely disappointed with Sokka now; she had always thought he was a perfectly nice guy, one who would stay by the side of the girl he loved and who'd be loyal to her forever… why would he fool around with someone as deadly as Azula while being with a wonderful girl like Suki?

"This is preposterous…" said Azula, shaking her head "How… how could it be real? It's impossible… Why would he even bother doing something like this…?"

"I don't know, Azula…" muttered Ty Lee "But don't look too far into this. Sokka has Suki, even if he forgot about it or something… but he's still involved in a relationship. All you should do is seek him out and press him to tell you why he did this… you should just talk it over and solve it so that you can both walk away calmly from this mess…"

"I don't think I'll ever get away from this calmly…" muttered Azula, with a sigh. That wretched peasant had played around with her carelessly, and if he ever dared do something like that to her again, she'd make sure he wouldn't live to see the light of another day…

Confusion and distraction might make the lovers lose sight of who their most significant one is, but eventually, truth will out. The red thread of destiny ensures the true lovers will find each other one day.